Blueberries
by xX.yumakeme.x.l.a.u.g.h.Xx
Summary: Years ago, she made a promise that she would marry him. Now, 12 years later, she is determined to keep that promise, no matter what it takes. NaruHina
1. Running Away

--Standard disclaimer applies

Blueberries

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_No matter where we go, no matter what we do, we will always look up at the same sky and remember..._

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"_C'mon Hinata!"_

_Two children giggled as they raced through the park to the big oak tree at the park's edge. One was a little girl with blue-ish black hair and innocent lavender eyes. The other was a boy with blond hair and stunning blue eyes. _

"_Let's go!"_

"_I'm coming!"_

_They plopped down under the tree, both out of breath. Breathing heavily they looked at each other and laughed. After a couple minutes to catch their breath, the girl said,_

"_Will you be my friend forever?"_

"_Of course, Hinata," the boy replied. "After all," he continued, "you're the only girl I'll ever love. All the rest of them have cooties." He made a disgusted face and the girl giggled._

"_But," said the girl, reverting back to her worrying state, "What if another family comes and takes you away, and you'll get adopted?"_

_The boy thought about this for a moment until his eyes brightened with an idea. He looked around, picked up a stick, and started carving into the tree-_

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_The girl looked at him puzzled._

_He explained, "It's a promise." As if it was the most obvious thing in the world. When she still didn't catch on he continued,_

"_I promise that if I ever get adopted, I'll be your friend no matter what, and we'll get married someday! Do you?"_

_The girl finally understood. She nodded her head. "Mmhm. I promise to never forget you."_

_The boy grinned. "Then it's settled!" He leaned back on the tree. "Wooh! Good thing we won't have to worry about that anymore. And besides, this tree is really big so it will probably be here forever!"_

_The girl agreed and lied back on the tree as well. It was starting to get dark and the stars were coming out._

"_Can you promise me something else?" the girl asked._

"_Of course," it came out as a half-whisper._

_She waited a little while before asking._

"_Will you see the same stars wherever you go?" She looked up at the sky._

_The boy looked up as well. "Well…you never know if I'm gonna go anywhere or not." He was talking more to himself than he was to his best friend next to him._

"_But…when you look up at the stars…will you remember me?"_

_He took some time to answer._

"_Of course," he whispered._

_And that was enough._

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Chapter 1: Running Away

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"Tenten, what am I supposed to do?"

She took a deep breath. "Well, it's simple. You just go up to your dad and you ask him."

"Tenten, we both know that it's not that simple."

She tried to smile --it didn't help. "Look, Hina, just ask him. Trust me."

"He's going to say no."

She gave her a small push towards the door. "Just do it. And don't worry, I have a back up plan."

"You do?"

"Just go!" And with that, Tenten pushed Hinata out the door and hoped for the best.

For the past week, Hinata had been thinking about the little boy from her past. Since the day he was adopted she has never seen him or heard from him again, and she wondered what had happened to him. She longed to see those bright blue eyes and hear his laugh.

And there was also one more thing. She also made a promise, long ago, that she would go find him. Hinata ALWAYS keeps her promises.

And now 18-year-old Hinata is going to ask permission from her father to go search for the boy because if she didn't, she would lose her friendship, loyalty, and…honor…? This isn't going to be easy.

Hinata walked up to the door of her fathers study and knocked lightly.

"Come in."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly made her way in. "F-father?"

"Yes Hinata?" He turned around in his chair and fixed his eyes on her face.

"Um…" she looked down from the intensity of his gaze and did that finger thing. "W-well I would like to ask for your permission to, um…"

"Yes Hinata?"

She took a deep breath that did not go unnoticed by her father. "To, um, go with Tenten…out of town..for a..while…"

He narrowed his eyes. "Where will you be going?"

Hinata thought about this. She really had no idea where they were going to begin their search, and even if they started close by their search could carry them thousands of miles away. "Um, just over to the next town…or the next…I think," she added quietly.

"And how long will you be away?"

Hinata studied the wall to her right. "W-well I'm not sure." She gulped.

Hinata's father was quick to answer. "No."

She quickly turned her head back to her father. "What!?"

"I said no and that's final."

"B-but-"

"You are dismissed."

Hinata looked back at the ground. "Yes father," she whispered, and quietly walked out the door, making sure to close it behind her. That did not go well.

She sighed and walked back to her room where Tenten was waiting. She opened the door and shook her head. Tenten looked sad for a moment but then smiled and got up from her position on Hinata's bed.

"I told you I had a back up plan, didn't I?"

Hinata looked up at her confused. "Yes, but-"

"Soooo," Tenten began, "I say we run away." She smiled as if it was the most brilliant idea in the world.

Hinata was speechless for a moment at what had Tenten just said. When it finally hit her that she was planning on leaving without permission she said, "But, we can't do that!"

"Come on Hina, it's the only way!"

"No no no no no," Hinata turned away, "I can't do that!" and she looked back at Tenten. "First of all, how am I going to get out. I've got people watching me 24/7! And once they find out that we're gone they're going to send people to look for us, and no, this just won't work!"

"Look Hinata-"

"No! I just-this can't-no!-"

"Just listen-"

"But what if father finds out-"

"Come on Hina-"

"And my father's going to get so mad-"

"If you will just listen and-"

"Then they're going to be worried-"

"SHUT UP!!" Hinata quickly did what she was told. "Thank you! Ok!" She closed her eyes and sighed before continuing. "Just hear me out all right?" Hinata nodded. They both went to sit on Hinata's bed.

"We will run away on-" Hinata opened her mouth but then closed it quickly. "-ON a Saturday, probably next week if you're ok with that." She waited for Hinata to nod before continuing. "Because Saturdays are when your dad holds the family meetings and he usually stays really late. _You_ are going to be sick that day so _you_ can't go. That night we'll sneak out using the back entrance that no one ever uses. We'll walk to the city limits and hitch-hike from there-"

"HITCH-HIKE!" Hinata yelled then quickly covered her mouth with her hands. "We can't do that we might get in trouble," she insisted whispering.

"Would you rather do that or high-jack a car to drive?"Tenten asked.

"Never mind."

"That's what I thought. We'll get off at the next town and start our search there. So…" she thought for a moment. "We'll probably need to bring changes of clothes, money, and oh! Do you have any clues as to who the guy might be?" Hinata shook her head. "No name, appearance…anything?" She sighed. "Ok, this might be a little hard."

Hinata thought. She couldn't remember his name or what he looked like very well. The tree he wrote on was partially cut down and you couldn't see his initials, only hers so…"Well, there might be one thing," Hinata said. Tenten looked up at her. "I don't know if it will help but…well my memory is a little hazy, but there is one thing I remember," she spoke slowly, "He had the most beautiful, amazing…just gorgeous, stunning blue eyes that I've ever seen." She looked into the distance as if she was trying to remember something and smiled.

Tenten looked at her. "That's it?"

Hinata looked back at her friend. "Well, I think he was blond."

Tenten sighed and got up. "Ok, well that's what we're gonna have to work with for now. It's getting late. I should go."

Hinata got up as well. "But there's still the fact that they're going to send people to look for us," said Hinata, transferring back to her state of worry. "We're going to cause so much worry for people. Won't they worry about you?" She quickly regretted her words.

Tenten smiled. "Who? I don't have anybody to worry for me except you, and you'll be coming with me." Hinata smiled as well. It was true. Tenten had no family. She couldn't remember her parents, she was alone for as long as she could remember.

She walked Tenten to the front door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ten."

"All right Hina, and don't worry, everything will be fine."

Hinata looked skeptical, but then gave in. "Ok."

They both smiled and said goodbye. Tenten left for her apartment and Hinata returned to her room. This next week was going to be busy.

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"Ok are you ready?" whispered Tenten.

"I think so," replied Hinata. She checked her watch. "They should be well into the meeting by now, and this is around the time when most of the maids are in the kitchen."

"Great."

It was Saturday night. They had spent the whole week planning and it was finally time to put their plan into action. Everything was ready. Now all Hinata and Tenten were waiting for was the perfect time to sneak downstairs and out of the house. The clock was ticking by. Any second now her father would call for all the servants to come into the meeting room and serve the refreshments, including the maid that was watching over Hinata to see if she was ill.

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"Come on."

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"Geez how long is he going to wait!"

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"Just be patient."

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"Bring in the refreshments!" they heard the booming voice of Hinata's father below, and the scurrying feet of the servers.

When it all quieted down again Tenten called, "Let's go!"

They ran down the stairs trying not to make a sound. Tenten ran past the door to the kitchen then, seeing that it was safe, motioned for Hinata to follow. They made their way to the deserted back entrance quickly but quietly. Once outside they ran across the lawn to the front of the house then ran as far as they could toward the city's north gate. Out of breath, they slowed down to a walk.

Tenten laughed loudly, trying to catch her breath. "Well, we made it!" she exclaimed and laughed again. Hinata then joined in the laughter.

Once they calmed down Hinata said, "I can't believe we did it! But now there's still the issue of getting out of the city walls."

"Don't worry! The guards are probably dozing off by now!"

They walked to the gate, and sure enough, the guards were asleep. They just walked right on through and onto the main road. There weren't many cars out at this time so it was hard to catch a ride. Most people just ignored them, but when Tenten stuck her thumb out at an old-fashioned red mustang, the car pulled over in front of them. The person driving was an old man probably in his sixties with his wife. They looked nice enough.

"Where to?" the woman asked, leaning out of the passenger window.

"Just over to the next town." Tenten answered. Hinata preferred to stay quiet.

"Sure hop in!"she said and both her and her husband smiled _very big smiles_.

Tenten hesitantly opened the door and then she and Hinata slid into the back seat. They surveyed their surroundings: The car was nice, clean, not new but they kept it in good shape. They sat in awkward silence until the woman put on an old country CD. Tenten and Hinata looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

The woman turned around with that same _huge smile_. "Do you like music?"she asked. "Oh I like music!!" her husband answered, _very enthusiastically_. They both turned to look at each other. "I think we need to show these kids a righty-ite good time, don't ya say Billy Ding?"the woman said. "Yuppidy-duppidy Hanni Wanni!!"

"Billy Ding?"whispered Tenten in disbelief.

"Hanni Wanni?"said Hinata.

All they could do was stare as the couple burst into song.

_When you're down and sad ("Hanni" faked a sad face) There's always someone around (the couple looked at each other and smiled) To brighten your day So never put on a frown Get a smile on your face That's what we saaaaaaaay!! 'Cuz it's a happity-pappity place in the world today!_

The couple, out of breath and smiling those _annoyingly huge smiles_, turned to face the girls to see their reactions. Tenten and Hinata just continued to stare with their mouths wide open.

"Oh look their speechless!" giggled Hanni.

Oh they were speechless, all right. The four continued to stare at each other in silence until Tenten said,

"What is wrong with you people?"

Immediately the couple's faces fell. They looked as though they were on the verge of tears.

Noticing this, Hinata said, "um, w-what she means is, uh…m-maybe you should keep your eyes on the road?"

The two smiled again and Hinata let out a sigh of relief.

"All righty!" agreed Billy, "Wouldn't want to get in an accident!"

'This whole trip was an accident' thought Hinata.

The rest of the way there the two girls had to listen to annoying songs and stories about "When I was your age…" They could only sit and stare and occasionally nod when Hanni turned around or asked them a question. The trip was only 10 minutes but it felt like an eternity of listening to overly optimistic people with big, annoying smiles.

While listening to Hanni tell the story about the time she visited the leopluredon (whatever that was)the car came to an abrupt stop.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Billy.

"What is it!"Said Hanni.

"W-w-w," started Billy, "we're here!"

"Noooooooo! That means we need to say goodbye to our friends! And we were having such a good time!" The two burst into tears.

Taking this as an opportunity, Tenten signaled to Hinata that the doors were unlocked. They both opened the doors as quietly as they could and sneaked out of the car. Seeing as the couple was still weeping uncontrollably, Tenten mouthed the word 'run'.

The two ran as fast as they could into town and away from those haunting smiles. Once they were a good distance away they stopped to catch their breath.

"I…am never…doing that…again!" gasped Tenten with her hands on her knees. She looked up at Hinata who was shaking. "You…ok Hina?"

Hinata just stared straight ahead. "Their smiles…looked as if they would…pop off of their faces."

Tenten burst into laughter. "Hahaha…ok let's go see if we can find a place to spend the night 'cuz I am tired," she yawned. Hinata snapped out of it and giggled, "That was actually kind of fun… in a really weird way."

"Yeah…right."

The two friends laughed and walked around the town. After finding a motel they checked in for the night. Sleep easily overtook them.

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How was it? Sorry if it kinda sucks but this is my first actually ongoing fic. Please review and tell me how it is!

--for those of you who don't know the leopluredon is from Charlie the Unicorn...which I don't own!!


	2. Boy With No Past

Thank you to everyone who is reading this story!!

Standard disclaimer applies

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_They say that if you have no past, you have no future…_

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_The first time she met him it was the day of the first snowfall in Konoha in years. Little Hinata had never seen snow before and she was curious to go outside and touch it. _

"_F-father, c-can I go outside to see the s-snow?"_

_Hiashi looked down at the wonder in his eager daughter's eyes and something inside him just couldn't say no._

_The stoic head of the clan sighed. "Sure, but take Neji with you." Hinata was quick to follow his orders. He saw the spark in her eyes and the way it lit up her face and almost smiled-almost._

_Little Hinata searched the whole house but still wasn't able to find her cousin. But she really really wanted to see the snow. She decided that maybe she could get out, just for a little bit, without her father noticing._

_She went and fetched her little purple coat and gloves with a matching hat, and ran outside. Her first reaction was that it was the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. The snow fell and melted right on her nose, as if fairies were sprinkling the ground with magic._

_Her second reaction was that it was cold. She really didn't expect it to be this freezing! The ground was covered with a thin sheet of ice and Hinata, being the clumsy little girl that she was, slipped and fell. When she tried getting up she just slipped again._

"_Need a hand?"_

_Above her a little boy was standing with his arm stretched out to help her up. But that wasn't the first thing she noticed. All she saw was the most amazing blue eyes she had ever seen. She would never forget them for as long as she lived._

_She then noticed his hand and took it. All of a sudden it seemed a little warmer, and when he smiled,_

_It was like the sun itself._

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Chapter 2: Boy With No Past

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The next morning Hinata and Tenten awoke to a loud commotion outside.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR!!"

"NO EXCUSES BOY!!"

A loud groan was heard from Tenten as she pulled a pillow tighter over her ears. Hinata slowly sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. "W-what's going on?" she yawned.

Outside a boy with blond hair and blue eyes was running away from two men with kitchen utensils in their hands. He spotted the motel and ran inside.

"Quick! I need a room! Hurry!" he yelled as he repeatedly rang the bell on the receptionist's desk. The lady at the desk slowly lowered her glasses to peer up at the boy. "Sir, I cannot give you a room without proper payment. And what is your name?" she questioned slowly. "I'm afraid it will take some time to prepare a room for you sir, sir? Where are you going?"

The boy was getting nervous and ran away down the hall with a quick "Never mind!"

Meanwhile, upstairs Hinata and Tenten opened the door to their room to see what was going on. Suddenly a boy came running and crashed right into Hinata sending them both on the ground.

The boy just stared. Hinata felt the heat rising to her face. _'There's a boy…on top of me…really close…ok, keep calm'_ she nearly passed out.

"You know you shouldn't jump on people like that," said Tenten with her hands on her hips standing in the doorway.

The boy then noticed her and looked up. He saw the open door leading into the room and asked, "Can I hide in your room?"

Tenten looked confused. "Hide? What? No!"

They heard voices yelling "You can't hide from us you thief!" and looked down the hall to where they came from. Hinata was kinda just focusing on not passing out.

The boy quickly glanced at Tenten then picked up Hinata and ran through the door in one swift motion, making sure to close it behind them.

"What is wrong with you?" whispered Tenten. The boy turned toward her and put a finger to his lips and said "ssshhh". He put his ear on the door to hear yelling and footsteps racing by. Once it quieted down he turned around to face an irritated Tenten trying to steady a fazed Hinata. "Thanks," he sighed.

"Yeah you better thank us," yelled Tenten, "and what the hell was that all about?"

The boy walked over to the bed and asked, "Can I?"

"No," said Tenten walking over as well with Hinata following. The boy sat down anyway. "Those guys were chasing you weren't they?" she said as she and Hinata sat down on the bed opposite him. The boy nodded. "Why?"

"Well…uh," the boy scratched his head, "those guys kinda sorta thought I stole their ramen…but I didn't! I swear it was a total accident! See I was being chases by this monster!"

"What kind of monster?" Tenten interrupted.

The boy scratched his head. "Uh…a-a dog."

"What kind of dog?"

The boy looked down embarrassed. "…a maltese."

Tenten howled with laughter and even Hinata giggled. This guy? Afraid of a maltese? Those little puppies?

"I hate dogs," he mumbled as he listened to the two girls laugh in front of him.

"Hahaha…anyway, continue," Tenten giggled, finally calming down to catch her breath.

"So _anyway_, the monst-dog-IT" -more giggles were heard- "came after me so I ran into a ramen shop and ran into the chef who was carrying ramen-"

"Obviously."

"- and I _accidentally_ took the ramen and ran out of the shop with it but then I decided to throw it at the dog to make it stop chasing me but then before I knew it there were these guys chasing me and calling me a thief when I noticed that it was their ramen that I threw and that's when I came here." He took a deep breath after his long speech. The two girls just stared before bursting into laughter yet again.

Tenten opened her mouth to say something but just laughed even more.

"What?" the boy asked, starting to get annoyed.

"Sorry, it's just…" laughed Tenten, "you…hahaha" she couldn't catch her breath to say one sentence.…"it's just so…funny!!hahahahahaha!!"

The boy finally gave in and started laughing along with the others. "Now that I think about it, it is pretty funny!"

Once they all quieted down Hinata finally spoke up. "So…um, what's your name? A-are you from around here?" She noticed that he had pretty blue eyes…

The boy looked down sheepishly. "Uh, well, actually…I don't really…know…"

Tenten and Hinata were confused. "How do you not know where you live?" said Tenten.

"Um…well, it's not that," he started, scratching the back of his head, "it's just, I can't really…remember."

Hinata and Tenten looked at each other. The same question was going through both of their heads. '_Does this kid have some kind of memory loss?_'

"Well the thing is," he continued, "when I was a kid, I guess, I was abandoned or something like that because I don't have any parents. Gran says, well she's not really my gran, but, she says I must've hit my head on something really hard because I woke up and didn't remember anything. The only thing I had when she found me, Gran I mean, she found me, and all I had was a letter of some sort. I knew it was from another kid, probably a boy from the handwriting. Gran and I, we couldn't really figure out what it said 'cuz it was all ripped and dirty, but she said it might have been from my brother or something if I had one. But we did find out one thing, my name. Naruto."

The three just stared for a moment in silence. Tenten turned to her friend, but Hinata shook her head and looked down. "Not possible," she muttered.

Naruto was watching them with a confused look on his face. "Um…is there something I should know?"

Tenten realized that he was still there and looked up. "Oh-no we were just looking for someone and-"

"H-have you ever been to Konoha?" Hinata interrupted.

Naruto thought for a minute. "No never heard of it."

"Do you ever remember climbing a tree with a little girl?"

Naruto laughed. "I can't even talk to a girl! You two are the first girls I've been able to talk to for this long."

'_He's never talked to a girl before?_' The girls looked at him with the same questioning looks. "Does this mean we get a special prize or something?" Tenten asked slowly.

Now it was the other's turn to look at her. She put up her hands in her defense. "I'm just sayin'."

Then she realized something: the two of them should be outside, looking for a blue eyed hottie…and they were still in their pajamas.

Tenten quickly stood up. "Um, I don't mean to be rude but I think you should get going now."

Naruto slowly got up. "Um, ok…"

It's just that, we have a long day's work ahead of us, right Hinata?" explained Tenten as Hinata got up as well and walked Naruto to the door.

Naruto stood in the doorway. "Hinata…that's a nice name." Said girl blushed at the compliment.

"And I'm Tenten, nice to meet you. Now that we all know each other's names do you mind leaving?"

"Uh, thanks for saving me…I guess." With one last look at Hinata, Naruto walked back down the hall.

Tenten closed the door and turned around to face her friend with her hands on her hips. "Well that was weird."

The two got ready for their long day of searching.

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Back at the Hyuuga household…

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CANNOT FIND MY DAUGHTER?!"

Hiashi's booming voice echoed throughout the house. All the servants cringed at his loud words.

"Fetch me the one who was watching over her," he ordered to a random servant. She bowed and quickly ran to carry out his orders.

"Suki-san, Hyuuga-sama needs you," the servant whispered to Hinata's personal maid.

"Yes I know. I could hear him a mile away."

Suki quickly walked over to Hiashi with her head bent low. It was safe to say that she was scared as hell right now. She bowed. "Yes, Hyuuga-sama?"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

"Yes, Hyuuga-sama." She looked up and immediately wished she didn't. His menacing gaze made her feel so small and defenseless.

"Where. Is. My. Daughter?" He tried to speak calmly but it sounded just as scary.

"W-well, um," she stuttered.

"Speak up woman!"

"Sh-she was in her bed last night! Sleeping soundly, I saw her!"

Hiashi wasn't convinced. He decided not to waste his time on this servant. "Go fetch Neji!"

"Yes Hyuuga-sama." She was thankful for a chance to leave. Suki sent Neji to his uncle and hoped the best for him.

"NEJI!"

"Yes sir." Neji remained stoic as usual. The servants wondered how he managed not to wet his pants.

"You are to search the whole town for my daughter. If she is not here you are to search the next town, and the next, UNTIL YOU FIND HER!"

"Yes sir."

"And have her know that she is in big trouble when she gets home!" he added.

"Yes sir," Neji said again.

Hiashi went on, "She probably ran off with that annoying friend of hers. I thought she was done with those stupid ideas about blah blah blah blah blah blah……" He just kept on going.

'_Tenten isn't annoying_' Neji thought '_well she can be at times but…wait a sec, why am I standing up for her again?_'

"…and you are to bring her to me immediately! Understood?"

Neji snapped out of his thoughts. "Yes sir."

"Good. You will be leaving at noon. Go get yourself ready, NOW!" Hiashi ordered.

Neji quickly left to pack his things and get ready. This certainly wasn't what he was planning on doing but, who knows, this could be fun.

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Yes Hinata & Tenten are a little slow...

I hope you liked it! Now that school is over I'll have more time to work on the story.

Please review!


	3. Unwanted Acquaintances

So SO sorry for the late update!!

In case anyone's wondering, yes Neji will find Hinata and Tenten eventually...but not yet muahahahaha…

Standard disclaimer _**still**_ applies

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_They say that a stone that sinks to the bottom can never float back up…_

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_They were sitting under the same tree they always sat under, the largest one in the park. It was the beginning of spring and the flowers were starting to come out._

"_Hinata-chan?" Said girl looked up at the boy sitting next to her. In such a short time they had become such great friends._

"_Can I touch your hair?"_

_Hinata hesitated, but then nodded her head in agreement without saying anything. The boy reached up and stroked her hair once._

"_It's soft," he said, and she couldn't help but smile and looked back down. "It would be prettier if you grew it longer."_

_And that's exactly what she did_

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Ch 3: Unwanted Acquaintances

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With Neji…

"Have you seen a girl with eyes like mine traveling with another girl with two buns?" Neji was asking the lady at the front desk of the motel the two stayed in.

The lady lowered her glasses. "Why yes sir but they had already left to the next town a couple days ago."

'_dammit'_He sighed. "Well thank you." He turned around and was about to walk away when-

"No thank you…handsome." The lady at the counter winked.

'_isn't she like fifty years old??'_ Neji decided to just keep on walking.

Unfortunately, he had failed to figure out which next town, and went in the complete opposite direction.

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With the girls…

"It's already been a week," said Tenten as the two walked calmly through the town they just arrived in. She had her hands behind her head in a leisurely fashion. "We searched three towns in one week, but man that last one was _expensive_! Who knew rich people could be so stuck up-no offence Hina." Hinata just nodded her head. "Anyway," Tenten continued, "I'm kinda hungry, how 'bout you?...Hina…Hello?"

She looked to the side to see her friend with a strange look on her face fingering her wallet. Tenten brought her hands down from behind her head. "Hinata, you ok?"

"I-it seems that we're r-running low on…money."

The two stopped walking. "You can't be serious…I knew it!"

"You kind of just contradicted yourself, Tenten," Hinata said quietly.

"Well, how much do we have left?"

Hinata looked back through the wallet. "Just about enough for a couple days-meals and a cheap place to stay." She looked back up at Tenten who seemed to be deep in thought.

"We could…hmm…we could…steal som-"

"No!" Tenten jumped from the sudden outburst. She looked at Hinata who was starting to get frantic.

"Ok, ok! So that's out of the question." She sighed. "I guess our only options are……either to get jobs…or go back home."

..

"I'm sorry, but we're not looking for any help."

"Are you sure? We can-"

"Thank you, but I'm afraid I have to turn you down."

She sighed. "That's ok. We'll just uh…go then."

The two girls left with their heads hung low. Tenten glanced back just in case the lady decided to take pity on them, but she didn't and they kept walking.

"Man, that's the fifth place we've tried!" said Tenten once they were outside. "I think I'm starting to give up hope. Maybe we should just go back home." They both sighed.

"Just call and order the pizza!"

"But what if he doesn't answer?"

"Just do it and ask for him to deliver."

"What kind of pizza?"

"Well we can't just get plain cheese, it's got to be something exotic!"

"What the hell? Exotic pizza!"

Tenten and Hinata looked up to see what-or who-was causing the commotion. Ahead they saw two girls- one blond and one, was that _naturally pink_ hair?-arguing about how to order…_pizza_? They looked at each other with questioning looks then walked up to the girls.

"OMG!"-she stressed each letter-" Just give me the phone!" it was the blond one.

"Why would I let you order? I want to talk to _my_ Sasuke-kun!" the pink-haired one put her hands on her hips.

"_Your_ Sasuke-kun? Why would he want to talk to someone with an abnormally large forehead and pink hair!" she was waving her arms in the air.

"Well at least I'm not a pig! Oink, oink little piggy! Why don't you go roll in the mud!"

"Ew! I would get my hair all muddy!"

"True. And after we stayed so long in the salon."

"Yeah, they did a pretty good job didn't they?"

"I know. I love the shampoo they used!"

"We should totally get it!"

Tenten and Hinata sweat dropped anime style. They changed subjects so quickly and easily like that! It was then that they noticed they were wearing waitress outfits. Someone inside yelled at them to get back to workbecause their lunch break was over, on second thought see them in the office. The two girls looked at each other with frightened expressions and walked inside.

"I wonder what happened," said Hinata as she and Tenten sat on two chairs outside of the little café.

"Yeah…wait a sec! They're getting fired!" Tenten stood up again. "If they get fired, that means they're going to need two more employees which means we can get jobs!" She was breathing heavily with her arms stretched out wide.

"Are you sure? What if they're just getting a raise instead?"

"Did you hear that guy?" Tenten yelled, pointing a finger at the door. " He seemed mad, _really_ mad. Oh yes! This is awesome!"She jumped for joy.

Just then the two other girls walked out with their heads hung low, completely ignoring Tenten's anxious jumping. Tenten grabbed Hinata's hand and half-dragged her into the café. "Where is that guy," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. She caught sight of the manager guy and smiled again, skipping over to where he was standing and dragging Hinata along with her.

"Hello sir! We're looking for jobs, and I was just wondering if you had any available?" she said just a little too energetically. The manager looked over his shoulder, scowled at her expression, and walked away.

Tenten's face fell. "Was it something I said?" She stood there for a second dumbfounded, then walked after the man, a new smile on her face and Hinata still unwillingly following behind.

"Excuse me sir?" Tenten tapped his shoulder.

"NO!" The manager bellowed as he turned around to face Tenten. "I am NOT hiring you! I am never hiring any more immature _girls_ to work at _my_ restaurant! Just because they want to work across the street from their precious _Sasuke-kun_!"he made his voice high-pitched and fluttered his eyelashes at the mention of the name. Tenten stifled a laugh. "In fact, I'm firing them _all_ right now!" and with that he turned away.

Tenten's expression turned bitter. "Well that's sexist," she muttered.

The man turned around again. "What did you say??"

"I said that's sexist! And we don't wanna work here anyway! Come on Hina, let's go!" She stuck her nose up in the air and dragged an apologizing Hinata back out of the café.

The two other girls were still outside when they came out. The blond one nudged the other toward Tenten and Hinata.

"Um…hi," said the pink headed girl.

"Hi," greeted Tenten.

"My name's Sakura, and that," she gestured toward the blond, "is my friend Ino. We kinda figured you were looking for jobs and were wondering if we could come with you."

"Uh…"

"The thing is," explained Ino, "as you can see, we're also unemployed. We thought that maybe it would be easier and quicker if we looked together." The two looked at them with hopeful smiles. When neither Tenten nor Hinata said anything they started to get nervous.

"W-well if we looked together it will be more…productive….right?"

"Um, can you hold on a second?" Tenten grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled them out of hearing range.

"Well they seemed nice," said Hinata, glancing back at Sakura and Ino.

"Did you hear them before? They sounded like psycos!" Tenten pointed at the café. "And they just got fired!"

"Well we couldn't even get any jobs," explained Hinata, "maybe they can help us too, Ten. Think about it."

Tenten gave in. "Ok." And they walked back over to the others.

"Sure we can look together," said Tenten.

"Really?" It sounded like no one ever accepted their offer. '_maybe for a good reason_,' thought Tenten.

"Yup."

Sakura and Ino began jumping up and down and giggling like maniacs.

"On one condition," Tenten interrupted, and they stopped to look at her. "Don't do that." They both nodded their heads. "Ok let's go." Tenten proceeded to walk ahead as Hinata gave them both a friendly smile.

..

3 hours later…

"That's it, I'm giving up!" exclaimed Tenten after getting turned down for the umpteenth time.

"We've probably been through like, _every place_ in town," agreed Sakura.

"Yeah, like twice!omg!" continued Ino. "And we still can't find anything!"

"B-but we can't give up hope!" The other three turned to look at Hinata.

"Hinata, Hinata, Hinata," Tenten sighed as she closed her eyes, shook her head and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Just face it, we're going home."

"No! Look!" Hinata pointed across the street to a bright yellow building. The others followed where she was pointing and found a sign in the window that read NOW HIRIRING and below in smaller letters, NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.

Immediately the girls' faces lit up and they ran across the street and into the building, not even bothering to see what it was.

..

"And this here is my favorite, the common snapping turtle! He came all the way here from South America! I call him Snappy," said the enthusiastic tour guide with a little wink. She continued into a full description of the turtle, much like she had with all the other animals.

Sakura groaned. "How much more of this do we have to endure before she figures out that _we don't care_," she whispered.

"What the heck is this place anyway?" asked Ino as she examined her surroundings. The walls, each painted a different bright color, were lined with display windows, most of wich appeared to be empty. There were random aquariums with one or two exotic fish in them, and every now and then a stack of children's coloring books piled on the floor next to a box of crayons. They had already gone through a cafeteria, a small children's library, and an arcade all in the same building.

"Well she called it a 'Natural Habitat Environmentally Educational Entertainment Museum'…or something like that," replied Hinata.

"Can't they just call it NHEEEM?"

"That still sounds long," said Sakura as the lady was still going on and on about her favorite snapping turtle.

Tenten snorted. "They should be paying us just to come to this crazy place."

"Would anybody like to pet Snappy?" The tour guide asked. She had asked the same thing for all the other animals as well. The four hesitated.

"Wouldn't that be kind of dange-"

"As a matter of fact I would love to," inturruptedTenten. '_Just for the hell of it'_

"You know what? I will too," said Ino.

"Sure me too."

They all turned to look at Hinata. She sighed. "All right."

The tour guide smiled even wider if that was possible. "Right this way!" She led them to a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY and unlocked it, leading the four girls in. They walked into a narrow hallway with glass walls and doors on either side of it. Each door had a sign with an animal's name on it. They were led to the first door on the right marked COMMON SNAPPING TURTLE. "Well here he is! Don't be fooled! While it looks like he's sleeping, he's actually looking for prey!"

'_Looking for prey??_'

They walked inside with Hinatatrailing in the back, still debating on wether she wanted to touch the thing. The tour guide was taking very slow careful steps so the others did the same.

"Now we have to approach him from the back, or else you never know when he's gonna snap at you!"

Just then they all heard a scream behind them and turned around to see what happened.

..

Hinata had always been fond of her hair. It was the only piece of vanity allowed to her. She grew it out past her waist so that it shone in the sun and swayed as she walked. She washed it every day and brushed it until it was silky smooth. It was her pride and joy, and now-

Now it was being bitten off by a snapping turtle.

"Oh my-! Hinata are you ok?" yelled Tenten as she ran over to her best friend kneeling on the ground next to the turtle.

"I-I I think-AAAAAAHHH!!" She screamed again as the turtle jerked its head backwards.

"No Snappy! No! Bad boy!" said the tour guide, pointing her finger and shaking her head as if she was talking to a misbehaved child.

"It,like,won't let go!" yelled Sakura.

The tour guide laughed. "Well of course not! Snappy has a way of clinging to things! Why, he's just a little boy!" She laughed again.

"Omg this is soooo not funny!" said Ino.

"Guys? Hello? What are we gonnado?!"yelledTenten from her position on the ground.

"Well," said the oh-so-smart tour guide, "We could cut her hair off!"

"NO!" both Hinata&Tenten screamed simultaneously. But then Snapy jerked his head back again and Hinata'sanwer was quickly turned to a "Yes, yes! Do it now!"

"We need something to cut it with!...um…" Tenten began franticly searching the exibit for a sharp rock or something of that sort.

"Poor Hinata she looks like she's in pain," said Ino as she brought a hand up to her mouth.

"WELL OF COURSE I'M IN PAIN!!OW!"

"Yeah…"continued Sakura, completely ignoring Hinata's outburst. "To bad we have to like, cut her hair off."

"I know, and it's so pretty too."

They both continued to watch Hinata struggle in pain and sighed.

"Hey I wonder what kind of shampoo she uses!"

"I bet it's better than the one at the salon!"

"Yeah! Hey Hinata-"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE RIGHTNOW! OW! STUPID TURTLE!"

"Well…"

"NO! DON'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION!"

"Uh…ok then." Sakura shot Ino a look that seemed to say _"Then why did she ask us?" _Ino shrugged.

"Guys I can't find anything!" said Tenten, running back to the other two. "Looks like we're just gonna have to beat up the turtle until it lets go."

"I've got a pair of scissors!" said the tour guide, holding up a pair of small silver scissors.

"You idiot! Give those to me!" Tenten held out her hand.

"Na ah ah! Not until you say please!" she said in a singsong voice, shaking her finger at Tenten. Tenten snatched the scissors from her hand and ran over to Hinata.

"Now Hinata," Ino said slowly as if she was talking to a child. She knelt down in front of her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Hinata grabbed the front of Ino's shirt and glared at her with the eyes of someone who has gone insane. It almost looked as if she had pupils. "Do it," she growled.

"Ok, ok!" Ino close her eyes and held her hands up in defence.

"Hinata hold still!" Tenten was trying to cut off big chunks of her hair with the tiny scissors. She was about halfway through when-

"Ow! The thing BIT ME!"

"Isn't he cute!" The tour guide laughed.

Tenten briefly glared at the tour guide then yelled at Sakura continue cutting.

"I can do it!" Ino raised her hand as if she was about to answer a question in class.

"No I don't trust you," Tenten blurted out. Ino blinked her eyes repetedly in confusion.

Sakura finished cutting Hinata's hair and helped her get to her feet. The turtle shrunk its head back into its shell and continued chewing on the piece of hair that was cut off.

Hinata erupted in tears. "My hair! It's gone!" she cried. "Tell me," she sniffed, "How bad does it look?"

Her hair came to about her shoulders, one side longer than the other, with some pieces sticking in random directions.

"It looks…fine," Tenten lied.

"Yeah it looks great!" said Ino, a little too energetically.

"It's like, really pretty!" agreed Sakura, nodding. They gave each other high fives behind their backs.

"I can tell you're lying." Their faces fell. It didn't work.

"I can fix it!" said Ino. They all shot her a disbelieving look. "No, really."

Hinata sighed. "But first, let's get out of here. I never want to see another snapping turtle in my life." They all nodded and went back outside, leaving the tour guide to snuggle with her precious Snappy.

"I can do this! I went to beauty school," said Ino. She hadHinata sit down facing one of the colorful walls. She held out her hand and Tenten hesitantly gave her the scissors.

"Ino, you failed beauty school," Sakura pointed out.

"So! I still went!" She shot Sakura a know-it-all look. They stuck their tounges out like little kids.

Hinata, wallowing in her sorrow, sighed for the millionth time. "Just get it over with."

Ino began snipping at pieces of hair, leaving them all on the ground as she went. After a few minutes she called Tenten and Sakura to view her finished work.

"It's actually pretty good," admitted Tenten. Her hair came to about right under her chin, with the two regular strands framing her face longer than the rest.

"Well I've got to say you've really outdone yourself this time, Ino," said Sakura. "It's waaay better than the time you did my hair. I had to wear a hat for like, a month!" Hinata shot her a worried glance. "B-but this is way, way, better!! I swear!" She took a small mirror out of her pocket and handed it to her. "Here, see for yourself!"

"Ok, let me have it." Hinata took the mirror from Sakura and held it up in front of her. She moved it around to get a better look at the back and immediately broke into tears.

Ino's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't like it?" All she got as a response was more sobs. She sat down next to Hinata and started crying too. "She doesn't like it!"

"I-it's ok Ino!" Sakura sat down as well and hugged her friend, tears forming in her eyes. "It's not your fault!"

And before she knew it Tenten was standing before two babbling idiots and her depressed friend. _Great_.

She went to Hinata first. "What's wrong?"no answer "Is it that bad?"still no answer "If you don't like it you could just wear hats for a month like Sakura did."

"I-it's not that," Hinata sniffled. (haha I love that word!...sniffled!...ok continue)

"Then what is it?" Tenten asked, glad to finally get an answer out of her.

"It's-it's…"

"Yes?"

"it's my, m-m-m-my…"

"Go on.."

"my…my…"

"Just spit it out Hina!"

"hair."

Tenten rolled her eyes.

"I know, but what about your hair?"

"It's…gone."

'_All this because her hair is…gone?'_ thought Tenten. _'I blame the turtle. Yes, the turtle. The turtle and that maniac tour guide. She's an idiot. I hope she gets bitten by her precious _Snappy_.'_

"I ," Hinata continued, "I haven't c-cut it for so l-long and now it's all…it's…it's…gone!" she cried some more as Tenten patted her back. "B-but Ino did a good job."

Ino suddenly looked up. She had long forgotten what she and Sakura were crying for. "I did what?"

Tenten sighed. "You cut her hair, Ino."

"Hey I did, didn't I?" she said as her and Sakura stood up.

"And you did such a great job!" Sakura complimented. The two proceeded to jump up and down holding hands and giggling.

"Hey!" Tenten interrupted and the two immediately stopped. "What did I say about doing that?"

"Sorry," they said simultaneously.

..

"Oh and remember when-!"Sakura said. Ino nodded and the two erupted in giggles.

Tenten rolled her eyes. They had been talking about absolutely NOTHING for the last twenty minutes. It had taken long enough to get Hinata out in public, they didn't need to waste their time on…nothing.

Sakura and Ino walked ahead while Tenten walked behind them, trying to get a certain Hinata to hold her head up high and look where she's going because she already tripped over two pebbles, a cat, and ran into a parked car.

"Oh and Sasuke!" Ino said.

"I know!" shrieked Sakura, and the two started giggling yet again.

"So who's this Sasuke guy?" asked Tenten. "You guys keep mentioning him."

"You mean you don't know!" Ino nearly had a heart attack.

"He's just the hottest guy in the WHOLE WORLD!!" Sakura practically yelled and threw her hands up in the air.

"He is, like, SUPER RICH, just like us! and he has this huge house with like servants and stuff, and he works at Mr. Hal's Pizza!" Ino and Sakura were breathing heavily and giggling between gasps.

"Wait a sec, he's a pizza guy?" Tenten was confuzzled. How could this hot millionaire work at a pizza parlor?

"Yeah no one really knows why though," explained Sakura. She and Ino had a moment in deep thought that was interrupted by another fit of giggles.

"Well then," said Tenten with her hands on her hips, "Why don't we go see this…Sasuke."

Sakura and Ino froze. They stared at Tenten wide eyed.

"W-what?"

"We've never ever talked to him in our whole lives!" said Ino.

"Well how hard can it be?"Tenten shrugged.

..

The little bell above the door ringed as four girls entered Mr. Hal's pizza parlor.

"There he is!" whispered Sakura, pointing at a dark haired guy behind the cash register.

"What's so special about him?" Hinata asked.

Ino's and Sakura's jaws dropped. "Didn't you hear a word we said?" whispered Ino wide-eyed.

Hinata looked everywhere but their faces. "…No," she admitted.

"Just look at him," Sakura said dreamily. "Isn't he perfect?"

In fact, he was. He had jet black hair that looked kind of messy but it was good on him. He had perfectly toned skin, mysterious dark eyes and long eyelashes. He wasn't just perfect, he was beautiful,

and he was looking straight at them.

"Then maybe you should go talk to him!" Tenten pushed Sakura and Ino toward the cash register and the stumbled onto the counter.

"Um…….hi." Sakura smiled and looked up to meet his piercing gaze. Ino just giggled.

"Are you actually going to order something, or are you just going to keep staring at me like the rest of them?"

He looked to his right and sure enough there was a crowd of girls with hearts in their eyes staring at him. A couple of them fainted when he looked their way.

"Actually," said Ino as she shot Sakura a quick glance, "We were planning on ordering some…breadsticks." Sakura nodded.

"That'll be-"

"Wait!" Yelled Sakura.

"What?" Sasuke looked up from the cash register irritated.

"Uh…um, is free an option?" she said sweetly.

"No."

"Oh." Sakura fell silent and looked to Ino for some help. Neither of them had any money on them; it was all wasted at the salon.

"Look if you don't have any money on you, then you can just leave," said Sasuke.

"Um," Ino was looking for a way to get him to let them stay longer. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have really nice eyes?"

"Yes. Now get out." He looked behind them and added, "And take those two with you." Behind them, Tenten looked up from devouring someone else's pizza. That someone most likely being one of the girls too busy staring at Sasuke to notice. Next to her Hinata was staring at a breadstick, pondering wether or not she should eat it, since clearly the person who bought it wouldn't be eating it anyway.

Sakura and Ino turned around and walked out the door, defeated. Behind them trailed, Tenten eating her pizza, and Hinata who decided to snatch the breadstick anyway.

"So how'd it go?" asked Tenten, finishing off the last bit of her pizza.

"What do you think?" asked Sakura.

"Not so good, was it?" said Hinata. The two nodded.

Ino turned to Sakura. "We messed up big time, Sakura, maybe we should've taken his offer to stare at him."

"Oh come on guys! This is no reason to get down!" Said Tenten. "We're still unemployed!"

"I don't think that's really working Tenten," whispered Hinata.

"You're right," sighed Tenten. "This day so far has gone horribly wrong." After a moment of silence, Tenten turned to Hinata. "Look, I think…I think we should just leave without Sakura and Ino, we were better off without them," she whispered.

"Well…"

"I know you would probably feel bad about leaving them and all, but wouldn't it be easier to search without having to babysit those two?"

"Actually Tenten I was going to say you were right."

Tenten looked at her friend in disbelief. "I am?"

"Yes. I already made you come along, I don't want to have to inconvenience them as well."

"No! Hinata that's not-"

"Hey, like, what are you two whispering about over there?" asked Ino.Tenten and Hinata nearly forgot that they were there.

"Oh! Um," Tenten sighed. "Can we talk to you guys for a second?"

"Yeah, sure, like, what's this about?" Sakura giggled.

"Well," explained Tenten, "before we met you, we were kinda looking for…someone and, we,… now we need to get back to searching for that…someone."

"Oh well, we can like, help you!" Said Ino with a smile.

"W-we were kinda thinking of going alone," said Hinata.

"Wait, so, you guys are leaving us?" Sakura cocked her head to the side.

"No you can't do that! We'll help you! We promise!" said Ino.

"Yeah!" Sakura nodded her head quickly.

"Thanks, but no thanks," said Hinata. "We'll be fine on our own."

"I guess we'll just be going now…" said Tenten. "It was nice meeting you."

She was turning to leave when Sakura yelled "Wait!"

Tenten turned back around.

"Look, we know we've probably been, well, annoying," said Sakura.

"But the truth is," continued Ino, "We really don't have anywhere else to go."

"We lied, we're not super rich," said Sakura. "Well we were. Our parents owned that big company, H.Y. Kings & Queens Inc. That's us, the H and the Y, Haruno and Yamanaka. I don't know if it was big where you come from, but it was here. We recently went bankrupt and lost everything. Our parents told us to make ourselves useful and find jobs, but to tell you the truth, we really have no idea what to do. We were so used to just having everything at our fingertips. We were supposed to inherit the company, so all they taught us was how to be at the top of a business; we never worked a day in our lives. We never knew how to talk to people normally so most people just walked away from us. We're completely lost."

"You two are the first friends we've ever had, besides each other of course," said Ino. "So please, we'll even get down on our knees, but please, let us come with you. Don't leave us stranded here."

There was a long silence until Tenten sighed. "Well I feel like a pushover. You don't have to get down on your knees, you guys can stay with us. If it's ok with Hinata of course." She turned to look at her friend.

"I don't want to put you two at an inconvenience, this is all my fault after all," said Hinata. "We are looking for someone, and if you don't mind leaving your home to come help us, I would be glad to have you come along."

"Thank you so much!" Said Sakura. Both her and Ino had tears in their eyes.

"Group hug!" yelled Ino with her arms held out wide.

"Oh what the heck," said Tenten and they all hugged.

This heartwarming spectacle was interrupted by Ino's phone ringing.

"Oh! Sorry guys that's mine." She pulled out her phone and looked at the number. "Hm…I don't know who this is but…..Hello?...Yes…No way! Really?...Oh my-…..ok I will…Thank you!" Ino squealed and jumped from foot to foot as she hung up the phone. "Guess what guess what!"

"What?" asked Sakura.

"WE JUST WON 50,000 YEN!!"

"What? How?" yelled Sakura.

"Well remember that raffle you told me _not_ to enter?"

"You entered it."

"Well when you and Hinata went to the bathroom, me and Tenten got 35 raffle tickets!"

"You did WHAT?"

"So what, Sakura," said Tenten, "WE JUST WON 50,000 YEN!"

"And that's not even the best part!" said Ino jumping up and down.

"Then what is the best part, Ino?" asked Hinata.

"We get an autographed bobble head of an American TV star!"

"Oh who!?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know! That's the surprise!" They all started jumping up and down and giving each other hugs. "But wait!" yelled Ino, and everyone stopped. "We only have 5 minutes to get there and claim our prize!"

"Well we only have like 2 minutes now! Let's go!" yelled Sakura and the all started sprinting to where the raffle was held.

They arrived gasping and out of breath to the contest table.

"Hi…my name's…Ino Yamanaka…and I've come to…claim…my prize." She nearly collapsed on the table.

"Oh I'm sorry you arrived _two seconds late_! Better luck next time!" said the man behind the table.

"Wait, what?" said Ino.

"But sir, it was only two seconds!" Sakura pointed out.

"Yes but rules are rules, missy! You were late," he said.

"But that's not fair!" yelled Tenten. "We got here, didn't we?"

"But you got here _late_."

"OH NO!" The all turned to look at Hinata who marched up to the man and grabbed him by the collar, bringing him down to eye level. "I did not go through everything I went through today, then sprint here, all the way across the town, just to hear that we were 2 SECONDS LATE!! YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE US OUR 50,000 YEN, AND YOU'RE GOING TO LIKE IT!"

"Don't forget the bobble head!" said Ino.

"AND THE BOBBLE HEAD!" Hinata looked straight into his eyes. "Understood?"

"Y-y-y-y-YES!" the man whimpered.

"Good," said Hinata, letting go of his shirt. She smiled innocently as the man handed Ino a check and a small box. "That wasn't so hard now was it?"

..

"Wow Hina! I still can't believe you yelled in that guys face! HAHAHAHAHA! That was HILARIOUS!" laughed Tenten.

Hinata shrugged. "Well he wouldn't give us our money."

"Well I'm still curious what's in the box! Come on, open it Ino!" said Sakura.

"Ok, ok!" Ino laughed. "Here goes!" she lifted the flap and took out a small bobble head. The signature on the bottom was--

"Dr. Phil?" said Ino.

"What the hell is a Dr. Phil?" asked Sakura. "Let me see!" Ino handed the bobble head to Sakura. "Ew! He's so ugly!" She handed it to Tenten.

"This thing is so weird. Here, Hina," said Tenten and she handed it over to Hinata.

"It looks kinda…wait did you hear that?"Hinata looked around at her friends then examined the bobble head. On the bottom was a button, so she pressed it.

_I'm Dr. Phil! Do you have any problems?_

Hinata shrieked and dropped the talking toy. "What did that thing just say!"

"Ino, throw it away!" yelled Sakura as she nudged the toy toward her friend with her foot.

Ino threw her hands up in the air. "I don't wanna touch it! What if it has some weird freaky voodoo spell on it or something!"

"I say we should just leave it here," said Tenten as she poked it with a stick. She immediately dropped the stick when it started talking again. "Ewgh."

"And I say we should run! RUN!" yelled Ino.

And they ran, eager to get rid of the evil voodoo bobblehead named _Dr. Phil_. Shudder. They ran so fast that before they knew it they were bursting through the door of Mr. Hal's Pizza Parlor.

"Can't you see the sign says closed?" said a man sitting in a chair with his head in his hands.

To Ino his head resembled some kind of fruit…what was it? A strawberry? No…a mango? Not quite…oh yes, a pineapple. Definitely a pineapple.

"Well it would be closed if you got your lazy ass out of that chair and helped clean up for once," said Sasuke, appearing from behind the door that lead to the kitchen. The moment he looked at the four girls his eyes narrowed. "Not you again. What do you want."

"um…," started Sakura.

"Oh! We can buy breadsticks now!" Ino interrupted with a big smile. The others sweatdropped.

"Sorry princess but we're closed."

Ino turned to glare at that pineapple guy. "Yeah, ok, but I was talking to Sasuke." He muttered something like, "isn't everybody…"Ino scoffed and rolled her eyes back to Sasuke.

"He's right. Now get out," said Sasuke, having a glaring contest with Sakura.

"You know what," said Sakura, "you're a real jerk. And to think I was actually thinking of asking you to come with us, after clearing it with Hinata and Tenten of course."

Hinata looked down at her feet. "W-well it would help," she said quietly.

"What?" said Tenten.

"Like I would ever go with _you_," said Sasuke. He turned to go back in the kitchen when the other guy spoke up from his chair.

"This is a surprise. Sasuke the Great turning down an offer to get out of hell." Sasuke turned back around. "You gotta admit, this place sucks. Not to mention all those hoars trying to catch your attention. If you asked me I'd be outta here in two seconds flat."

Sasuke thought about this for a second then turned to look at Hinata. "You can get me out of here?"

Hinata nodded. "I-if you are willing to help us find someone."

Sasuke dropped his apron and jumped over the counter. "Take me with you. I've been waiting for a chance to get out of this crappy job. All I have to do is help you find someone right?"

"Yup," said Tenten. "We're taking applications now, no experience necessary."

Sasuke looked back at Sakura and Ino's shocked faces. "I guess I can deal with those two for now."

"What?" said the other guy. "I'm not invited to your little party?"

"W-well if you would like to…" said Hinata.

"Nah, I don't have time to play games with you kiddies. I've got better things to do."

"Like what? Sleeping?" snapped Ino.

He smiled a taunting smiled and winked. "Spot on, princess." Ino crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, Shikamaru. Let's go," said Sasuke.

"All righty then! We leave first thing tomorrow!" Said Tenten, then added, "I'm sick of this place."

So it was decided. Hinata and Tenten would leave with three more people than expected. After a day of quirky people, snapping turtles, and crazy contests, they were glad to leave. But little did they know, Neji was still on the chase…

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So sorry for the late update! i hope the longness makes up for it though...

The next chap will be up in a couple weeks (hopefully)!


	4. Annoying

Well here it is! Chapter four…

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_They say that those who are never quiet, never listen…_

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_Hinata had always wanted a younger sister, so that she could dress her and teach her and do her hair, as she had seen others do. So when her father told her that her mother had had a child, she immediately expected it to be a girl. But what she didn't expect was for her mother to die the next day._

_She loved her mother, truly she did, but when she heard the news she didn't seem all that sad. She had a new baby sister, it was like her mother's parting gift. For if the elders all said that Hinata looked like her father, then surely her sister would look exactly like her mother, and that made up for the loss._

_But Hanabi –as the girl was later named according to part of her mother's parting wish (the other part pertaining to Hinata)- proved to be a little…difficult. She was loveable, yes, and of course proving to look exactly as her mother, but also acting just as stubborn and headstrong as her father._

_By the time Hanabi could walk, which was just too soon, she just wouldn't sit still! She would follow either, Hinata, her father, or one of the maids restlessly, never leaving until she got what she wanted. Hinata was fine with this, as long as Hanabi never followed her outside. She worried that Hanabi might soon find out about her blond blue-eyed friend, for young and small as she was, she was incredibly sneaky. She decided to address her best friend about this…problem._

"_B-but what if she sees us."_

_Little Hinata shifted her weight from her right foot to her left on the damp ground under the big oak tree. It had rained yesterday in spring, which shouldn't be strange, Hinata thought, because April showers bring May flowers…but it was still March, so she changed her mind, it was indeed strange. Strange, strange world…_

_The boy was quick to answer. "She wouldn't follow you outside." It was a known fact: Little girls of that age were never allowed outside!_

_But Hinata was persistent. "B-but what if she does? She has a w-way of getting around the rules."_

"_Well she wouldn't remember anyway-she's just a little kid, they don't remember anything," was his reply (which was ironic because the were also but children at the time)._

_And with that Hinata was satisfied, for she knew that her secret was safe-for now at least. So while Hanabi may have continued to bother many others, Hinata was perfectly content with her- her little annoying bundle of joy, her precious gift._

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Ch 4: Annoying

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"I should've thought twice before agreeing to travel with a bunch of _girls_."

Sasuke grimaced. Everywhere he walked, people-mainly women of all ages-were staring at him. And what made it worse was that, in between the stares, they were glaring at the four girls who walked _with_ him: the traveling freak show. There was the tomboy who was ready to fling almost anything at anyone with perfect precision (he had experienced this at a restaurant when he had walked up behind her-she was armed with a fork), the shy girl who never said anything, the annoying big-mouthed blond who was just waiting for any chance to grope him, and of course the most annoying one of all, I mean, who the hell has _naturally pink_ hair? Yes he should have thought twice indeed, but being in such a hurry to get away from Mr. Hal's he just skipped right over that part, didn't he?

Oh but we haven't even gotten to the best part yet. There were even men falling over their feet staring at him. And then-oh my God, Ino was in such deep shit for this-Sai. He claimed he was an artist. Yeah right, artist my ass! The guy was completely gay! And Ino-the little bitch-actually thought they looked cute together! The result was a picture, taken expertly by the witch herself, of the little gaylord trying to practically _lick_ his _face_! Oh she was so dead. (ok ok just to clear this up, i have nothing against gay people! I think they're awesome & should have equal rights. all clear? ok please continue!)

Sasuke was definitely having a bad day-if the word "bad" even covered it at all.

On the plus side at least Ino had gotten her full share of enjoyment. She wasn't letting that camera out of her sight and snuggled it like a little baby against her chest.

For once couldn't the world be fair?

Thus started a new day, a new search, and a new sequence of uneventful surprises. Yet still, no sign of Hinata's mystery guy.

"You know Sasuke," said Sakura, "you didn't have to come with us. It's not like any of us would've cared if you didn't come anyway." She stuck her nose up in the air. Yeah, no one would've _cared_.

"I would've!" screeched Ino, raising her hand like a child in a classroom.

"At least someone appreciates me," muttered Sasuke.

"I mean," continued Ino, "Who else would I have taken ridiculous pictures of only to post them on the internet for the whole world to see & my personal enjoyment!" She giggled and held her camera closer. Tenten rolled her eyes.

"See," Sakura pointed out.

"You're annoying," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"Exca-_use_ me?"

"Pink-haired freak."

"WHY YOU-"

"U-um Sakura?" whispered Hinata. She was tugging on Sakura's sleeve, looking around nervously. "Everyone's staring."

Sakura looked around and sure enough, about twenty pairs of eyes were staring, and her face turned red in embarrassment - or was that anger at a certain drop-dead gorgeous pizza man?

Sasuke continued walking as if nothing had happened with a small smirk on his face. Sakura on the other hand muttered curses under her breath.

"Well anyway…" started Tenten, obviously trying to break the tension in the air, "I'm kinda hungry, how 'bout you guys? Why don't we go eat at that place down the street?"

"I think that's a great idea!" said Hinata. "How about you Ino?"

"Ew that place looks cheap…I mean, oh, yeah definitely!" said Ino after some encouragement from Tenten's elbow nudged in her side.

"Well you two?" asked Tenten, looking back at Sakura and Sasuke.

"Sure."

"Hn."

"Um, ok…" said Hinata, "I guess it's settled then. Let's go!"

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"Ew, this place looks gross. Where's my escargot?"

"Um, we're not in France, Ino," said Hinata she entered the small restaurant.

Tenten stared at Ino with a disgusted look on her face. "Do you even know what that is Ino?"

"What? Escargot? It's deliciousness!!" replied Ino.

"Um, Ino," said a fidgeting Hinata, "it's snails."

For a second Ino was frozen, until she turned blue and ran straight around the counter to the kitchen. Yells were heard and pots and pans dropped to the floor, and after a few minutes a sick looking Ino was dragged out by two angry chefs. They marched right up to Tenten and Hinata.

"Does _this_ belong to you?" the first one said, clearly meaning Ino.

"Ino!" said Sakura running between Tenten and Hinata to Ino's side. "What did you do?"

Ino looked up at Sakura with a drunken look on her face. "They're snails, Sakura…they're snails!"

"Get her out of here and keep her out," said the second chef, and with that they dumped her on Sakura so that she stumbled a bit.

She sighed. "Come on Ino, let's go outside and get you cleaned up." She started walking to the door while supporting Ino. "I'll stay with her. Can you guys order something and bring it out to us? Thanks," She added to Hinata and Tenten.

"Snails! Snails, Sakura! Can you believe that!"

"Yes Ino that's why I threw them out when no one was looking," muttered Sakura, walking out the door.

"Ok," said Tenten, turning back to Hinata, "looks like it's just you, me, and…where's Sasuke?" The two girls looked around.

"There," said Hinata, pointing at a huge mob of girls with a bored looking Sasuke in the middle.

Tenten thought about this for a second, but then decided to ignore it. "So what do they have to eat here anyway?" said Tenten, studying the menu.

"Um…Ramen," Hinata replied. (and we all know where there's ramen, there's…)

"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, EVERYBODY! I'M HUNGRY! AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!"

It sounded as if the whole restaurant groaned. It seemed that he must be a regular here, a regular that not so many people looked foreword to seeing.

"N-naruto?" Hinata turned toward the door to see the blond-haired bright-eyed boy that just burst in.

"Oh great," Tenten muttered.

"Hinata!" Naruto rushed over to tackle the shy girl in a hug to which Hinata responded by blushing. "It's cool to see you again! Hi Tenten!" he added upon noticing the other girl.

"W-what are you doing here N-naruto?" asked Hinata after being released from the hug.

"Me? I practically live here!" yelled Naruto with a boyish grin. "I come here everyday for my daily dose of ramen!"

"More like twice a day," added the man behind the counter. "What will it be today, Naruto?"

"Ah, you know, the usual Big Guy," said Naruto with a casual wave of his hand. (I didn't feel like giving him a name so he's just 'the Big Guy' ok)

"_Which_ usual," asked the Big Guy, leaning on the counter.

Now this Naruto had to think about. There were so many delicious types of ramen, how could he possibly pick only one? But wait, he didn't _have_ to pick only one. There was no end to his hunger, so why not pick two? Or better yet, five? Even ten or twenty? He had made up his mind.

"All of them!"

Hinata gasped. The Big Guy sighed. Tenten just rolled her eyes. '_idiot_'

"B-but Naruto, how could you possibly eat so many?" Hinata said, looking at the Big Guy's retreating back.

"Oh it's no big deal Hinata!" He clapped her on the back. "I'll be done with those in no time! Y'know my record's 58 seconds!"

Hinata raised a hand to her lips and whispered, "Oh my."

Tenten rolled her eyes yet again. "Oh come on Hina, he's not serious. That's one of the oldest pick up lines in the book!"

Two pairs of eyes widened at the same time. "Pick up line?" they said at the same time. Hinata nearly fainted.

"You know, boy trying to get the girl…" She sighed. "You're hopeless."

"But I'm serious!" He looked at Hinata. "58 seconds I swear it." Just then all seventeen bowls of ramen were brought out and placed in front of Naruto. "Yes! Start counting!" He dove into the first bowl like an angry pack of wolverines.

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the first bowl was finished. "Unbelievable," whispered Hinata.

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second bowl

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third

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fourth

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fifth

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sixth

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seventh

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eighth

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ninth

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tenth

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eleventh

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"He's not going to make it."

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twelfth

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thirteenth

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fourteenth

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fifteenth He was going at record time!

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sixteenth

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"unbelievable!"

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all eyes were on the blond headed beast

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"Done!" He held up his last bowl as proof, and the restaurant cheered.

"Naruto you did it!" Hinata yelled. "And you beat your record by 2 seconds, too!"

"Hey I did, didn't I?" he said with a hug smile. He stuck his tongue out at Tenten who was gaping at him.

Sakura came bursting through the door with a better-looking Ino by her side. "What? What's happening? Why's everybody cheering? Aw, I always miss out on these things!"

"Who's that guy talking to Hinata?" said Ino, squinting into the crowd.

"Naruto." Sakura and Ino looked up to see Sasuke standing next to them. "He just ate seventeen bowls of ramen in 56 seconds."

"Where'd you come from?" asked Sakura.

"My mother," Sasuke responded without looking at her.

Sakura gave him a disgusted look. "You're sick."

Sasuke just smirked. He really just escaped from a crowd of groping girls while they were preoccupied staring at Naruto, but if he said that it would just ruin his image, now wouldn't it?

Suddenly from across the room, one of the chefs caught Ino's eye. "It's her! The one from the kitchen!"

The Big Guy looked toward the door at a certain surprisingly confused Ino. "She's banned! Get her!"

Ino opened her mouth to yell something back, but then decided against it. "Oops! I'm out." And with that she ran out of the restaurant with about half the people running after her.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm. "Oh no, Ino! We have to save her!"

Sasuke looked down at Sakura's hand. "Stop touching me."

Sakura glared at Sasuke and screamed, "Why don't YOU stop touching ME!" and ran out after the angry mob, leaving Sasuke utterly confused.

"Ino!" Hinata gasped.

Naruto turned to look at her. "Who's she?"

"My friend Ino, and we have to help her!"

"Well then what are we standing around here for?" He grabbed Hinata's hand and ran. "Let's go!" Hinata ran along blushing like mad.

Tenten sighed. "Well Sasuke, we might as well," she said as she ran past him and out the door.

"Troublesome." He started toward the door but then stopped. "Damn Shikamaru's rubbing off on me."

And so he went after Tenten, who ran after Hinata and Naruto, who followed behind Sakura, who scurried after the angry mob, that chased Ino for…well, you know.

Isn't it just a wonderful day?

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With Neji…

'_Shouldn't I be getting close to them some time soon?' _

Neji had been traveling for days with still no sight of his cousin or her corrupting friend. He didn't leave that long after them, so…what was taking so long?

His thoughts were interrupted by a small noise behind him, but when he turned around, there was nothing there. He continued walking but heard a second set of footprints behind him. He stopped. They stopped as well. There was only one person who would be following him, and trying not to be seen.

"Come out Hanabi."

The small, headstrong girl came out from behind a tree on the side of the road and marched right up to her cousin. "Now listen here-"

"Go home Hanabi," Neji cut in.

"But Neji-"

"Go home," he repeated and began walking.

Hanabi had to think of something quick before he left her in the dust and she was forced to go home. "You know, you need me as much as I need you." He stopped. It was working. "Yeah, you heard me. You know my sister won't go with you just because you say so. That is, _if_ you even find her. You could be going in the complete opposite direction for all you know."

Neji turned to face his cousin. "But the lady said-"

"Ha! That lady would've told you anything you wanted to hear, and you know it. You can't trust that lady." A smug smirk crept its way onto her face.

Neji scowled. "How could you help me anyway?"

"I'm her sister," she shrugged as she walked up to him, "we have this _thing_, you know? Like we 'know' what the other is doing and thinking…and even where they are."

"Then where is she?" Neji growled. She was starting to get on his nerves.

Hanabi rolled her eyes. "Not here. Personally, I think you're going the wrong way."

Neji grunted and continued walking. But Hanabi wasn't panicking this time. She had him right where she wanted.

"Besides," she continued, "you're not even trying to find Hinata, you're just in it for that friend of hers, Tenten." He didn't say anything but continued walking. She followed. "Face it, you like her. You know you can't deny it," she said with a smirk.

"I'm not listening to you."

"Then I'll say it louder. NEJI LIKES-"

She was silenced by his hand on her mouth. "_Shut up_."

She pulled his hand down so she could speak. "I knew it, you do."

He pulled back and finally looked her in the eye. "What do you want Hanabi."

Hanabi was serious again, and equally matched his stare. "I want you to take me with you." When he didn't say anything she added, "I can help, really."

Did he need her help? He figured that sister stuff was just a bunch of bologna, but what if it was true? Had he been going in the wrong direction all this time? But other than that, he really did need her help. He knew he wouldn't be able to convince Hinata to turn back that easily. And let's face it, Hanabi was a _very_ convincing person.

That smirk was on her face again; she knew she had won. And Neji only had the pleasure of adding to her delight. "Fine." He paused as she celebrated. "But wait, what about your father? He won't be happy having two daughters missing."

Hanabi laughed. "Don't worry, I got that _aaaall_ covered!"

_Flashback_

_It was all set. Hiashi Hyuuga sat down for dinner with two places missing at the table, Hinata's and Neji's. Dinner tonight started out with something special, requested by Hanabi herself. For she had realized something that not many others seemed to notice. For every time Hiashi had some of a certain kind of soup made by Hinata and Hanabi's personal maid Suki-the one who was _supposed_ to be watching Hinata the day she left-he seems to agree to pretty much everything._

_So on the day Neji left, Hanabi came up with a plan. She asked Suki to make her special soup so that at dinner she could fool her dad into let her go. Simple, right? Now, all he had to do was take a sip of his soup and…_

_Perfect!_

_Hanabi smiled. He was in her territory now. "Father?"_

"_Yes Hanabi?"_

"_Can I ask you a question?"_

_Hiashi hesitated. "Of course."_

_She waited until he was almost halfway done with his soup so that he was only half-listening to what she was saying. "Can I go to a camp with my friends? An overnight camp, that is."_

_When her father didn't say anything, she thought he had come back to his senses, but then his answer drove that thought away. "You may."_

_Hanabi overflowed with joy, but didn't let her father see it. "Thank you father." And for extra measure, she got up and hugged him._

'_mission accomplished'_

_End of Flashback_

"You WHAT!"

"Calm down Neji, it's no big deal," Hanabi said nonchalantly.

Neji on the other hand, was furious. "Yes it _is_ a big deal. He's going to kill you! And then he's going have me killed! How could you do such a thing?"

"Hey, hey!" Hanabi held her arms up in her defense. "I know to you he's all 'Head of the Family' and all, but to me he's just my dad. It's cool."

Neji took a second to calm down and said, "If he doesn't kill you first I'll do it myself," then began walking.

The little brat was going to be annoying as hell.

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Well there it is! R&R please!


	5. Familiar

Disclaimer blah blah blah

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_They say that digging up memories is like digging up a grave…_

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_Every day they would meet each other at the same place, same time, see the same things, say the same things - but never do the same things because the same things were boring - yet everything was still the _same _.Never changing - always changing - same, same, same…yet different._

"_Meet me under the big oak tree."_

_And she did._

_Because the big oak tree at the center of the park was always there and always would be. Of course it would change with the seasons - winter, spring, summer, fall - yet it was always the same tree - always would be._

_It was spring now, flowers everywhere - as promised by the life-giving season - and she met him, as always, by the big oak tree - as promised._

_They talked about her strict life with her father, his strict life with his caretaker in the orphanage, and their life in the future. Always hoping for some things to change, some to stay the same. _

_And then he did something different. Well not different exactly because "different" was always expected to be the same, as everything always was. So in truth what he did was something _else_ that had never been done before. He reached over and took her hand. Whether it was involuntary or on purpose she didn't know, yet she didn't mind - his hand was warm, just like everything else about him. It was like having your own personal piece of sunshine._

_And the next day, and the next day, and the next, he did the same._

_Just as it always was, and always would be - as promised._

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Chapter 3: Familiar

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"Ino, you have no idea-"

"All clear," Sasuke interrupted.

"What?" Sakura stood mouth agape. They had been running around for _hours_ after the angry mob decided to call the police on Ino, and when they finally caught her it took Sasuke only a matter of _minutes_ to calm them down.

"Ha!" Ino pointed a finger at Sakura. "I'm not dead!" She then proceeded to dance around a fuming Sakura.

"Unfortunately," grumbled Sasuke.

Ino stopped and looked up at him. "Hey, I thought you were on my side!"

"I'm on no one's _side_. I just didn't feel like bailing you out of jail."

Sakura giggled. Sasuke glared. Sakura shut up.

"Well I'm glad that's over," said Tenten walking over to the trio.

Sakura shot Tenten an incredulous look. "Tenten, all you did was stand here the whole time."

Tenten nodded. "Yup, lots of work."

The others rolled their eyes.

"Hey guys guess what!" yelled a particular hyperactive blond followed by a blushing Hinata.

"Ooh! What is it Naruto!" said Ino, already excited.

"Well," continued Naruto, "I was talking with Hinata and I had the greatest idea!!! How would you guys like to meet Gran?"

Sasuke raised a perfect eyebrow. "Gran?"

"Well she's kinda like my grandma but not really," explained Naruto.

"W-well I think it's a great idea," said Hinata. "The day's almost over anyway."

"Yeah, and I'm hungry!" Naruto added. Hinata giggled. He had seventeen bowls of ramen, and he was _still_ hungry? The others all agreed-they _were_ tired after all.

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The lock clicked as Naruto opened the door.

"Gran! I'm home!"

They stood in front of a relatively small house painted a bright, and I mean _bright_, pink. Naruto noticed them staring and said, "Gran liked the color so I painted it last summer."

Tenten raised her eyebrows. "She picked _this_ color?"

Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Well…actually she picked out this light peach-ish color, but I got the wrong one, heh."

"Figures."

"Well anyway, do you guys wanna come in?" Naruto opened the door wide, and after one last look, they all filed inside.

"Hi Gran. "

Inside was a kind elderly lady with warm brown eyes. "Hello Naruto. And who might these be?"

"These are my friends, Hinata, Tenten, Sakura, and Ino," he said, stepping back so that she could get a better look.

"Ahem."

"Oh, and that's Sasuke." Naruto added, gesturing toward the other male.

Gran smiled. "Welcome." She paused and glanced back at the kitchen. "Well I wasn't expecting visitors. It looks like I'll have to make dinner for seven."

"Oh, you don't have to. We can just order pizza or something, if that's fine with you," suggested Sakura.

"Oh!" Naruto perked up as if just realizing something. "That's great because there's this new pizza place that just opened called Mr. Hall's and-"

Sasuke silenced him by pulling him up by the front of his shirt. "_Not_ that place," he growled, and Naruto could've sworn his eyes were red for a split second.

"O-o-ok, we can order somewhere else."

Sasuke let go and turned away, completely calm once again. Naruto adjusted his shirt and went to get the phone.

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The laughter died down around the too small table. Naruto had just finished eating a whole large-sized pizza. After all the bowls of ramen, no one thought he could do it. No wonder he ordered an extra pizza.

Sitting back in her seat Hinata noticed a bowl of fruit on the table & sat up again. Gesturing toward the bowl she asked, "Can I have some?" Gran nodded and she took a handful of the sour sweet fruit and plopped them in her mouth, the juice sliding down her chin so that she giggled. "Mmm, I love blueberries! They're my favorite!"

"No kidding! Mine too!" exclaimed Naruto as he reached for some as well.

Gran laughed her gentle, silent laugh. "I remember the first day I met Naruto, he was covered in blueberry juice!"

Hinata looked at Naruto and the two burst out laughing, the others all joining in. When they quieted down again Gran stood up. "Well I should probably clean this all up now."

"Oh! I can help," volunteered Tenten, standing up as well.

Gran smiled. "Thank you dear." The two proceeded to clean up the dishes as the others followed Naruto to the living room.

"You really are a great help, dear," said Gran, washing the dishes then passing them on to Tenten to dry.

"Oh it's nothing," responded Tenten. "I'm used to doing these kinds of things."

"It is a pleasure having company," commented Gran, handing a dripping plate to Tenten. "It's usually just Naruto and me, always has been."

Tenten finished drying the plates and began placing them in the cupboard. "You don't have any grandchildren?"she asked over her shoulder.

Gran paused for a brief second, then continued washing. "No. My family died in a horrible accident."

Tenten closed the cupboard and went back to dry the cups. "I know how you feel. I lost my family too. I barely remember my parents."

Gran sighed. "It must be harder at such a young age."

Tenten shrugged. "I don't know. But I like to think that they were really great people. I've had my friends to help me a lot as well." She smiled, thinking of all the great times she had had with Hinata, and sometimes Neji as well. "And of course you have Naruto," she added.

Gran chuckled. "Ah, yes. Naruto is wonderful." She paused, turning off the sink and picking up a towel to help Tenten finish drying the cups. "And friends are such a great blessing." The two looked at each other and smiled. Tenten liked the way Gran's eyes twinkled when she smiled. It was comforting and somewhat familiar, as if Gran had smiled at her that way every day of her life. And it made her feel empty, because for as long as she could remember the only one's who would ever smile at her with even just a hint of loving care, were the nannies, criticizing her every action, who were paid to watch over her.

As they were just finishing up, they heard Naruto calling them to the living room because they had come up with a dilemma: Hinata, Tenten, Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke did not have a place to stay for the night. When Hinata suggested they just go and find a cheap motel to stay in (as they had been doing previously) Naruto argued that it was too late and they probably wouldn't find a place anyway, so they should just spent they night here. Hinata said that she just couldn't burden them any longer but Naruto persisted, saying that it was no big deal.

"It really isn't a burden, dear. It will be a pleasure having you spend the night," insisted Gran. Naruto smiled brightly.

"But-"

"Tsk tsk tsk, no buts! What Gran said is final," said Naruto, placing a hand on Hinata's shoulder. He smiled so brightly that Hinata just had to give in and smiled as well.

"Ah, but there is one little thing," Gran admitted. Naruto turned to look at her with a less-enthusiastic face. "There is the matter of space."

"Oh well that's easy!" said Naruto, obviously expecting something much worse. "Hinata and Tenten can stay in my room. I'll stay down here on the couch. Sakura and Ino can take the guest room, and Sasuke can sleep on the floor!" There was a stern look from Gran and Naruto changed his mind. "Fine I'll stay on the floor. Sasuke can have the couch."

The others agreed but Hinata was still having doubts. "A-are you sure you don't want to stay in your room? Tenten and I-"

"No way, Hinata! Out of the question! How could you possibly deprive me of experiencing a one-on-one bonding session with the floor? I've been dreaming of this moment for years!" He smiled that dazzling smile again, and Hinata, again, could not argue. There was something about Naruto that made her just want to jump and scream for joy, something that just made her feel so complete. And nothing else mattered when his eyes shone in that precise way-

But no.

No. no_. no._

'_impossible'_

They had just met; she didn't know him. Unlike the boy from her past, he _had_ had a family. And she was on a mission. You couldn't complete a mission by just staying in one place. The others she was dragging along- Sakura, Ino, Sasuke, Tenten…… _Tenten-_ she had a duty to them as well. She couldn't let them down; she couldn't let herself down, and all because of some stupid thought…

But yet.

'_If only'_ she thought as she lie down in his bed. Tenten had already fallen asleep, but Hinata was kept awake by her trivial thoughts. _'If only it _was_ Naruto who would stay with me, and play with me, and _notice_ me all those years ago'_ But what was she thinking? She must be very tired.

They had just met; she didn't know him.

..

Hinata squinted as her eyes adjusted to the new light filling Naruto's bedroom. She hadn't noticed in the dim light last night, but the walls were painted a bright turquoise-her favorite color. It seemed that the whole house was full of bright colors. She liked it. Her house was all the same boring off-white almost grayish color. It seemed so depressing compared to this colorful home.

She lied in bed until she heard a knock at the door and sat up. Assuming it must be Gran she said, "Come in." But the person who walked in wasn't Gran, it was the blond-haired boy she had fallen asleep thinking about. Hinata thought briefly of how strange it must be to have to ask permission into your own room.

"Mornin'," he said as he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed next to Hinata. "You'll never guess what Gran's making for breakfast!"

From the look on his face Hinata was immediately filled with enthusiasm to match Naruto's. "What?" she asked.

"Blueberry pancakes!" he yelled, and the two started jumping up and down. They stopped abruptly when Naruto turned to look at Tenten. "Oh no, is Tenten still sleeping?" Hinata raised a hand to her mouth when she saw her friend stirring.

Tenten groaned. "Well I'm awake now." She sat up, yawned, and then stared at the two of them smiling at each other. "What happened to you two, it looks like you just found out an all-you-can-eat ramen buffet just opened down the street."

"There's an all-you-can-eat ramen buffet?!?!"

Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go wake everyone up so we can all eat blueberry pancakes!" He smiled and left the room. There were yells heard from next door-the guest room-a thump from someone falling onto the floor, and another thump of someone getting hit in the head. The door slammed and Sakura yelled, "GET OUT!"

Tenten laughed hysterically at this when Naruto came in, smiled, waved awkwardly, and left. The two got ready quickly and met Naruto and Sasuke down stairs. Ino and Sakura came down shortly after.

"Took you long enough," commented Sasuke. "What happened? Run out of eyeliner?"

"Yeah you should know you mascara wearing-"

"Blueberry pancakes?" Yelled Naruto as Gran came in with a plate full of the blue-spotted pancakes.

"Oh, sure," said Sakura as she sat down. Sasuke was completely calm yet again.

They all ate together, Naruto and Hinata commenting on how great they were. Naruto ate fifteen-this boy could eat!- and even Hinata ate more than she usually would. When they were all done it was time for them to leave.

"Do you have to?" whined Naruto and pouted. He was holding Hinata's hands as they stood in front of the door, ready to leave.

Hinata giggled at his childish antics. "Yes, Naruto, we do. I'm sorry."

"We're on a mission!" yelled Ino.

"You could come along if you like," suggested Tenten.

"Yeah, keep Sasuke company," said Sakura, glaring at said Sasuke. She had gone from completely adoring him to completely loathing him in just a matter of days. Ino had gotten over her obsession, but was still oblivious to his jerk-ness, as Sakura called it.

"Nah, I have to stay here with Gran." He paused. "Well good luck on your search. You're looking for a…guy right?"

Hinata nodded. "That's the plan." They both kinda stood looking at each other for a second, still hand-in-hand. "Well, yeah, we should go."

"Oh, yeah. Um, bye." Then Naruto hugged her. This startled Hinata ad she hesitantly hugged back. With a couple more waves and handshakes they left to continue the search. But something felt strange.

Hinata wanted him to hug her again.

..

End of Chapter 5!

I'll be in Mexico for winter break but I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who's reading and please review!


	6. Masquerade

You can probably guess from the title what's going to happen…

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_The orphanage was awful. _

_Your typical Hollywood not-quite-run-down-but-not-in-great-shape-either-prison-like orphanage. All under the not-so-watchful eye of the caretaker, the meanest, child-hating woman ever to go by the name of…of…well, nobody ever really knew her name. She ordered everyone to call her Madame Sir-which was very strange because she wasn't a _sir_-but nonetheless nobody would ever think of questioning her. She was strict, and had a whistle-yes a _whistle_-to make sure everyone stayed in order. Her punishments were harsh for young children, and her strategy was divide and conquer. If a group of children did something wrong, she would interrogate them separately, then make them carry out their torturous punishment alone and isolated. _

_There was a small ray of freedom though. The caretaker's assistant, Miss Lilian, was the sweetest lady that ever lived. She was still young, and had originally wanted to become a teacher, but the sad faces of the orphanage children as she walked by on her way to school, made her change her mind. She would always try to take the blame and lessen the punishment, and was scolded for being too nice. On days when Madame Sir was "busy", Miss Lilian would take the children outside and allow them to play games, as long as they were quiet._

_Miss Lilian was also the one who let a certain little boy out to visit a certain little girl. She didn't ask questions after he explained that there was a girl he liked and needed to see._

_And on those days when that certain little girl couldn't get out of her house, he would watch her. He wasn't sure that she knew, but he cherished those times. Just being there, and knowing that it was his choice, and that he didn't have anything else to do._

_And he thought she was pretty._

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Chapter 6: Masquerade

They had just entered a town during a festive season, it seemed. The streets were lined with lanterns and banners. Stalls were set up on the roadsides selling Mardi gras beads, noisemakers, poppers, and eggshells filled with confetti. A crowd of people circled a group of acrobats doing flips and spins in the middle of the road. There was an air of cheerfulness amongst the people, who were smiling and welcoming the strangers. Someone tried to hand them flyers but they smiled, shook their heads and said "no thanks". They were on a mission after all.

They went to the town's main square-which was even more decorated and crowded-to find the town hall. This had been there routine in every place they searched: arrive, then go straight to an official building. There they would begin their search. With Sasuke's influence it was a lot easier now to get a hold of the town's official papers-records of citizens entering and leaving, children enrolled in schools, adoptions, and even passport pictures. From there they would search by foot, asking around in case they missed anything.

The work was tedious, and often they would come up with nothing interesting. A few times they would find something, but it would later prove not to be the right boy. Today was no exception, and by midday they were tired and decided to pick up tomorrow where they left off. They asked the secretary there to keep the things as they were, and though she was obviously displeased at leaving the place in a mess, one look from Sasuke and she obliged.

Being outside in the joyous atmosphere lifted their spirits, even though-so far-the town had been a disappointment. Hinata heard a gasp from Ino and turned around, as did the others.

"I think I lost my lip gloss!" And she ran back inside.

About twenty minutes later she came back, lips newly glossed.

"Ok I got it!"

"Took you long enough," muttered Sakura. Ino threw her a glare and they continued walking, searching for the small motel the secretary told them about.

They had walked only for a short while when Ino spoke up. "Hey I have an idea!" The others stopped and turned to look at her. She continued, "Why don't we treat ourselves for once?" They looked at her with blank stares and she explained. "You know, stay someplace nice, do something we wouldn't normally do."

It was then that they realized where they had stopped. The group was currently standing in front of a tall, rather expensive-looking hotel for such a small town.

"You mean," said Hinata, "we should stay somewhere like the place right behind you?"

Ino turned around and faked a gasp, as though she hadn't known that a fancy hotel was right where they stood. "Yeah, this place looks nice."

The other four looked at each other with nervous glances. They weren't sure how much longer they would be searching. All of them-Hinata and Tenten especially-did not want to run low on money _again_.

"Well we _could_, but…I don't know…"

They stood staring at the building for what seemed like a long time until Sasuke sighed.

"I'll pay for it." They all shifted their gazes to Sasuke. He shrugged. "I _am_ a millionaire."

"Yay!" screeched Ino. She threw her arms around the other three girls and looked at the remaining male. "Oh come on, get in here!" Sasuke wrinkled his nose in disgust and stayed put.

The girls sighed, then brightened up again. _Who knows, this could be fun…_

The four travelers walked through white revolving doors to an almost completely white lobby. The short walk to the counter seemed ages long as their footsteps echoed on the white marble floor. Near them guests were relaxing on white squishy couches arranged around small rectangular white tables. There was a square seating area beyond the lobby with white round tables and white chairs, where people would eat, separated only by a glass wall that did not reach the high _white_ ceiling. Beyond the glass they could also see the four floors of the hotel, including the ground floor, lined with evenly spaced white doors. The only color came from the tall vases of red flowers on each table- smaller arrangements were on the smaller rectangular tables-and a couple of red pillows on the couches.

The hotel looked strangely _exotic_. It almost seemed that a place like this shouldn't be in a town like this.

The lady at the counter was also dressed in an all white uniform, with only a red flower adorning the perfectly smooth bun on the back of her head and bright red lipstick. She had a tired smile worn by those who had already met a lot of people and would rather be somewhere else. But there weren't many people here…

"Welcome to the Hotel. How may I be of service?" That sounded rehearsed.

"Three rooms please," said Sasuke. Her eyes lingered on his face for a while before checking her computer for available rooms. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, they could still see her constant glances at him. This was nothing new, they had gotten used to the staring-I mean he _was_ gorgeous-at least she was more discreet.

"Lucky you, you got the last three rooms available!" The _last rooms available_? That's certainly a lot of travelers. "How long will you be staying? All three nights?" All three nights of _what_?

"We'll pay when we leave." She nodded at Sasuke and went to get three room keys. She came back with the keys and dropped them in Sasuke's waiting hand. She made sure not to touch him or else she might have started hyperventilating.

"There you go, 145, 318, and 426. I hope you don't mind they're not on the same floor." Then she added, "Are you staying for the festival?"

"Um-"

"Yes!" Ino cut in quickly, "Yes we are." The others looked at her but she ignored them. They took their keys and left as the lady wished them a pleasant stay.

As soon as they were out of earshot from the lady, Sakura turned to her friend with a puzzled look. "Ino…what…?"

Ino shrugged. "It's cheaper if we stay for the festival." She didn't say anything more.

Since Sasuke insisted on having the topmost floor, and Sakura and Ino wanted to be closer to the pool on the ground floor, Hinata and Tenten agreed to stay in room 318. As soon as they entered the room (which was all _white_ save for the red pillows on the bed & red flowers on the tables) they immediately dropped their stuff and collapsed on their beds. After a long silence Tenten said, "How long do you think we'll be doing this?"

Hinata shrugged, but then remembering that Tenten was staring at the ceiling said, "I don't know." She paused. "As long as it takes."

They both sighed at the same time, then laughed.

Tenten rolled over and propped herself up on her elbows, facing Hinata. "You know Naruto…"

"He's nice," said Hinata, still staring at the ceiling.

Tenten decided not to push it and changed the subject. "I wonder what Ino's planning. Did you notice she was acting suspicious lately?"

Hinata turned to look at her friend and giggled. "Really? I didn't notice." They both laughed. Hinata sat up crosslegged on her bed and said, "I know. I wonder how she's managing to keep it a secret from everybody. Knowing Ino, I would think she would have blurted it out to everybody by now!"

As if on cue there was a knock on the door. Hinata opened it to find Sakura and an extra-energetic Ino outside. She seemed to bounce inside and over to Tenten. "So, are you guys enjoying your stay?" she said with a huge smile.

Tenten glanced at Hinata. "Ino…we just got here."

Sakura rolled her eyes, smiling. "Just tell them, Ino, they've probably already figured it out."

Ino frowned at Sakura, then brightened up again. "We're going to a party!!"

She was met with silent stares. "A party guys! Aren't you excited?"

Still silence.

"Oh, but not just any party!" Ino continued, taking the silence as a cue to go on. "A masquerade party!"

She looked around at their expressions when the only response she got was, "_What_?"

Sakura sighed and pulled out a flyer. She handed it to them saying, "Here." On it were big colorful letters announcing:

Come Join Us at our 22nd Annual

MASQUERADE BALL

And help us start out the Maiden Nights Festival with a **bang**!

Where: Maiden Nights Hotel

When: 24th of June

Time: six o'clock

**Tickets on sale in town square

Please Join Us

Hinata was the first to speak. "Where's that?" Her confusion only grew more when Ino started laughing. "This…this _is_ it, Hinata!" she choked out between laughs. "We're here!"

Hinata handed the flyer to Tenten so that she could get a better look. After reading it through four more times she said, "That's tonight, and in…three and a half hours! Ino, what were you thinking!"

"Well, I was thinking it would be a good opportunity, you know, for Hinata to find her guy!"

Sakura took the flyer from Tenten and waved it in front of Ino's face. "It's a _masquerade_! Everyone will be wearing _masks_!"

Ino lowered Sakura's hand from her face and said, "That's the point!" When they looked at her skeptically she continued, "Let me explain, when you wear a mask all you see is a person's eyes, right? Well that's the only solid feature Hinata remembers so wouldn't it help us concentrate on the people's eyes and therefore search better?"

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but then closed it.

"Well I think it's a great idea." They all turned to look at Hinata. "Ino's right. I think looking only at people's eyes will help me recognize them better."

Tenten shrugged. "Well I guess this means we're going then." She looked around and the other girls nodded.

"Hold on!" Everyone turned to look back at Sakura and Ino groaned. "Like, we still have one teensy problem here! This is a _masquerade ball_."

"Yes, I think we've already established that Sakura."

"Wait, but I'm not finished yet! _Ball_ as in we need _ball gowns_. Where are we gonna get some of those! And inexpensive ones might I add!"

Hinata sighed. Sakura was right. They couldn't just show up in their regular clothes. This event sounded fancy.

To their suprisement, Ino laughed. When they continued to stare at her she just laughed even harder until Sakura yelled at her to shut up! "I'm sorry it's just…it's all taken care of! I have dresses on hold, tickets, everything! Even masks! You guys didn't seriously think I would get us into this without planning it first!"

"Umm…"

"No comment."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Guys, give me some credit at least!" She sat down on the bed next to Hinata. "I mean, I like even got a ticket for Sasuke!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. This was where she drew the line. She looked Ino in the eye and asked, "_Why?_"

"In case he wanted to come, duh!" replied Ino, oblivious to her friend's murderous stare.

"He's not coming. He's not invited."

"I'm not invited where?"

They all jumped and Hinata even squealed (not like a pig, but in a cute way!) when Sasuke came out from the shadows in such a dramatic way worthy of an overly-dramatic movie. (dun dun _dun_)

Sakura glared at him. "How did you get in here?"

"Not important." Sasuke ignored her glare and looked at Ino. "What am I not invited to?"

Ino perked up as she regained her train of thought. "Oh! It's a masquerade ball at this hotel tonight. But everyone's invited so I don't know what Sakura's talking about…"

Tenten rolled her eyes and smacked her forehead.

"Ok."

Everybody stared at him in disbelief. Did _the Sasuke_ just agree to go to a dance? Where there will be _people?_

He simply shrugged, just as he had when he agreed to pay for the hotel. "It's a _masquerade_, isn't it?" And with that he left.

If he was any regular person, the girls might have laughed, but this was _Uchiha Sasuke_. No time for laughing here.

..

Everything was ready.

Ino had gone with Sakura to pick up the (surprisingly cheap) dresses she ordered (so that was what she was doing when she "forgot her lip gloss"). Hinata and Tenten had followed Ino's directions to pick up some masks. They had gotten dressed and after a long discussion had convinced Ino not to do their makeup because no one would see it anyway. The whole time (about two and a half hours) Sasuke had only been seen once when he was given the (black) mask Ino picked out.

"Tenten come on it can't be that bad!" Hinata called as she knocked on their bathroom door. The girls had all gotten ready and were sitting on the beds in Hinata and Tenten's room, waiting for Tenten to come out of the bathroom and show her dress.

"No way! I look like a friggin' puff ball!"

"Please Tenten!"

"I'm not going!"

Sakura turned to Ino and whispered "What did you get her? It better not be as horrible as she says!"

Ino shrugged. "I thought it looked pretty." And she continued to smooth out the fabric of her royal blue dress. Sakura sighed.

(**check out my profile to see the dresses, they should be up soon i hope :)

"At least let us see it," Hinata called. Ino had done a good job picking out her golden dress.

She thought Tenten was ignoring her until she heard a click and stepped away from the door. Out came Tenten dressed in a deep red dress with a full skirt and plunging neckline. Her face clearly wasn't as excited as the rest of the girls sitting on the bed.

Ino was the first to speak. "Tenten you look so…_girly_!"

Tenten turned around to head back to the bathroom when she was pulled back by Hinata. "Come on Ten, nobody will recognize you, and it's not like we know anyone here anyway."

Tenten sighed. After twenty minutes of making excuses she just didn't want to put up with it anymore. Besides, her friend was right, and she couldn't just desert her.

"Besides, you look great," complimented Sakura as she looked at her own strapless tomato red gown in the mirror. She turned to Tenten for emphasis, smiled and added, "I mean it."

Ino jumped up and clapped her hands together. "Then it's set! Let's go! Grab your masks girls it's party time!"

Hinata was about to walk out the door when she remembered, "What about Sasuke?"

"He can go by himself," Sakura snapped.

Ino shrugged. "Yeah, he can. Now stop stalling, let's go!"

If she could transport them all there automatically she would, but alas, they had to take the elevator. They met up with others dressed in fancy dresses and fine suits going down to the main floor as well.

Once they got to the lobby there were signs directing them to the ballroom and leading them through huge (white) double doors. Skirts flowed as feet moved in tempo to the upbeat traditional music. Jubilant faces were hidden behind extravagant feathered masks. That same air of celebration from before hit them straight on once again.

"Wow," Ino breathed as she surveyed the many decorations. The ballroom was large, with a high ceiling and grand staircase at the back of the room. There were chairs and small tables lining the sides where people could sit and order refreshments. "Come on!" She grinned and pulled on Sakura's arm, but Sakura pulled back. Ino was confused at first until her friend nodded toward the ticket table. "Oh! Right." She handed four tickets to the same lady from the reception desk earlier. They had given Sasuke's ticket to him earlier.

"Hey! Where are you going!" Ino called to Tenten, who was sneakily walking away from the others.

Tenten stopped, turned her head and replied, "Food table."

The girls' gazes instantly switched to the long white-clothed table at the far end of the room. Rows upon rows and layers upon layers of scrumptious food - cakes, pies, tarts, pastries, fruits, and even some things that had never been seen before but looked delicious nonetheless - sat there just waiting to be eaten. They all followed Tenten to the back of the room as if in a trance, unaware of the elegantly dressed girls they accidentally bumped into.

"Hey watch it."

Sakura and Ino turned around. Hinata and Tenten had walked ahead but turned back once they realized they were no longer being followed. In front of them stood a tall beautiful girl in a deep purple dress with black laced gloves past her elbows. Her long black hair fell in perfect curls down her back and her mask held the most feathers it could carry.

Sakura stuck her chin forward, said "You're excused." And turned away but the girl caught her arm.

"Hey I know you." The girl looked back and forth between Sakura and Ino. "H and Y…it is you!" She started laughing. Sakura and Ino narrowed their eyes. They knew this girl was referring to their parents' company which had recently gone bankrupt. "You little sluts! I can't believe you would still show your faces in public!"

This made Sakura angry. She didn't even know them! "Why you…!" She reached up to punch the girl but her hand was caught by a strong arm- a strong arm that led up to broad shoulders and a beautifully handsome face, half hidden by a deep black mask.

"Is there a problem here?" came a deep silky voice from seemingly unmoving lips.

And they weren't the only ones watching, it seemed as though the whole room had stopped to look at the handsome stranger that just arrived. The music could have stopped and nobody would have noticed. Heck, it probably already did!

"No! Nothing, nothing at all!" The girl dropped Sakura's other arm and batted her heavily mascara'd eyes behind her mask.

"Good." Sasuke dropped Sakura's hand as well and walked away. When he noticed nobody was following he turned around and raised his eyebrows. Not that anybody could see them but his expression was clear anyway.

Misinterpreting his sign, the girl in the purple dress smiled and started to follow but was tripped by Ino and fell into one of the small tables instead. Snickering, Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Hinata followed Sasuke back to the food table, where they were heading previously.

As soon as they were out of range of the snobby girl, Tenten burst out laughing. The others couldn't help it and joined in as well. Sasuke was the only one who seemed unamused.

Now that they were in a less crowded area they could finally see Sasuke properly - and what they saw was not disappointing. He looked even more handsome, if that was even possible, and very mysterious behind his mask. His deep onyx eyes stood out and were just as entrancing. If Sakura thought she was over him, she was wrong. She had fallen for him all over again, and frankly at the moment, she didn't care.

Nobody could get him to dance though. Many tried, all failed. Meanwhile the girls hit the food table.

Thus had passed the first hour (very quickly) and Hinata found herself wanting to explore. Everybody else was keeping themselves busy. Ino had gone outside to catch some air, Sakura was dancing with a man with a curious blue bird mask, Sasuke was standing in a corner still resisting dances, and Tenten was still at the food table ("I don't care if I don't fit in this dress, these lemon squares are delicious!"). So little Hinata, now annoyed with the feathers on her golden mask, decided to take a look around.

"I'm going to look at the decorations…" she said to nobody in particular. Her small voice was drowned out by the music anyway.

After a while Hinata had lost track of time, for she was completely entranced by this lighted fountain near the front corned of the room next to the band. She didn't notice when a boy came up beside her and said, "It's beautiful isn't it."

Hinata jumped and turned to look at who was beside her. Like Sasuke he was dressed all in black, but with a greenish tint to it. He had died his hair green and wore a black mask with blue and green feathered trimming. But what struck her the most was his eyes-

they were the clearest blue.

..

With Ino

She had gone outside to catch some fresh air after dancing for such a long time. The night was anything but silent. Crickets were chirping. Behind her, music flowed out from behind the doors of the hotel. At the bottom of the hill, the streets teemed with booths, decorations, and people. It was just as she had remembered it. When she was younger, her parents and Sakura's parents would bring them to this festival every year. Being too young, they were never able attend the Masquerade Ball with their parents but were instead left with a caretaker to enjoy the games and street performers. Ino was surprised that Sakura hadn't noticed where they were when they first got here. But then again, they hadn't come to the festival for years.

Ino took off her deep blue mask and took a deep breath of the crisp night air. She laughed at herself, just because, and wondered vaguely what the others were doing. Interrupting her seemingly pointless train of thought, Ino noticed a familiar-looking car parked a little way down the street. It was a Mr. Hal's pizza car, and in it was none other than that fruit-shaped headed guy. But why would a pizza man just be sitting in his car? Wouldn't he have a pizza to deliver or something? Unless…

"Asleep on the job?" Ino peeked her head into the driver side window (which was open).

His head jerked up so fast that it hit the hood of the car. She snickered.

"Why if it isn't the princess."

She scowled at him but he just closed his eyes again and laid his head back down.

Ino would not be put down that easily. "What are you doing here anyway?"

He kept his eyes closed as he replied, "Troublesome."

"Excuse me?"

He sighed as he slowly opened his eyes to look up at her. "I'd rather not say." He paused. "but I have this." He turned his gaze to the passenger seat where a pizza was sitting, still in its bag. Then he looked back at her expectantly.

Ah, another man of few words. Ino sighed and walked over to the passenger side door and got in the car. She closed the door, smoothing her skirt, and said, "I have a feeling somebody's not getting their dinner tonight."

He nodded. "Your feeling's right." He opened the box and offered her a slice.

Ino stared at the pizza for a bit, shrugged then took a slice. He helped himself to one as well.

After taking a few bites the guy said, "Shikamaru."

Ino turned to look at him. "What?"

He kept looking ahead, taking another bite of his pizza. Once he swallowed he said, "That's my name. Shikamaru." He turned to look at her as well. She stared back.

Realizing that it was her turn to introduce herself, she exclaimed, "Oh!" then, "Ino."

He nodded and turned back to his pizza. She did the same. This might have been the start of a new friendship until she said,

"This tastes like crap."

And **L**aughed **O**ut **L**ou**'d**.

He threw his half-eaten slice of pizza back in the box along with hers. "Yeah it does." Then he laughed as well. It was short and quiet, and he will never admit that he did (laugh with her) but it was there.

Once they quieted down, he expressed that he was hungry, and she smiled.

"I know where we can get good food." She stepped out of the car, making sure not to wrinkle her dress. When he didn't follow, she turned to him and said, "Come on!"

Shikamaru got out of the car also and gave her a questioning look, but followed her nonetheless. He walked through the doors of the Maiden Nights Hotel and into the lobby, making a face at how white it was. He didn't ask questions as she led him to the huge double doors marking the entrance to the ball; after all he was just hungry. But when the doors were opened and he saw all the ladies in dresses and men in suits, his eyebrows shot straight up and he stared at Ino. It was then that he realized that she was wearing a dress as well. She just smiled and took his arm, leading him to the back of the room where the food was.

When she got there, Tenten was talking to another girl who was also enjoying the vast array of desserts. The girl bid farewell and Tenten turned around to find Ino with some other guy dressed completely casually. Ino introduced them, and when they spotted Sakura and Sasuke she introduced them as well. Sakura said hello but Sasuke just gave a nod, acknowledging that he recognized his old coworker. That's when they realized that Hinata wasn't there. Tenten informed them that she had gone to look at the decorations, but had been gone for a while. So, they decided that they would split up and look for her. Sasuke and Shikamaru decided to walk around the hall while Sakura, Ino, and Tenten went to check the ladies' room.

..

Where Hinata really went…

She was in a peculiar situation, she supposed.

A new song had started; he bowed. She figured it was her turn to curtsy, and did, accepting him as her dance partner. He placed one hand on her waist and took her other hand in his. She didn't know the steps; It didn't matter.

She never asked his name, and he didn't ask hers. One moment they were standing together, admiring the way light dances and reflects on water, and the next they were moving as one. Every corner of her mind was screaming "Stranger Danger! Think of what this person can do to you!" but her body had no intention of moving. She strangely didn't feel uncomfortable, though she avoided looking into his eyes. The dance was quick, yet slow and simple at the same time. She almost felt as if she was in a trance, as if this person (_this gorgeous, graceful, wonderful, beautiful person_) had her under a spell, and she didn't care. She knew what she was doing was wrong but it didn't feel wrong at all. The decorations around the hall were a blur, the skirt of her dress swished around her feet, and for a moment, she forgot where she was. She along with this no named stranger were the only two people left in the world. Everybody else just had something better to do.

But then the music ended, and just like that, the moment was gone. She looked around, people were still talking, eating, enjoying themselves. Couples and groups walked off the dance floor to take a break. The band got ready to play another song. She looked up to see that he was watching her again. It might have been creepy but she liked the way his eyes looked.

"Do you want to see something?"

She nodded. It didn't really matter what this something was. Some part of her (a part of her that must have been sleeping for years) screamed that she couldn't leave, she had to stay with him, her life depended on it (A little over-exaggerated, but still). He led her to the back of the hall, where there was a door under the grand staircase. Through the door was a room piled with extra tables, chairs, tablecloths, costumes, props, paintings, mirrors, and countless decorations that were ever only used once, but kept there just in case. The only light came from the floor-to-ceiling double window on the left side of the room. Moonlight shined on the dust particles floating in the air. It gave the room a gloomy yet magical feeling at the same time.

They didn't stay in the room, however, he led her over to the window, which also happened to be a door, leading out into a balcony.

Below she could see the booths and red lanterns lining the streets. The only sound came from the distant carnival music, shouts and laughs from the children, and a trickling stream directly below them. It was then that she remembered that they were on the ground floor.

Noticing the confusion in her face he said, "This town is carved into the base of a mountain. Or was at least. This hotel is at the peak of whatever's left. There's a whole story about it actually. A legend. Of how the tradition of this carnival started. Have you heard it?"

Hinata leaned on the railing of the balcony, drinking in the view. "No."

He turned to look at her and she looked back, still avoiding his eyes. "Would you like me to tell you about it?"

This time she hesitated. "S-sure."

He smiled and held up a finger, signaling for her to wait, and went back into the storeroom. When he came back through the double glass doors, he was carrying two chairs and wineglasses. He set the chairs across from each other and motioned for her to sit down.

"Wine m'lady?" He bowed. There was nothing in the glass but she decided to play along.

"Thank you."

He sat in his chair and took up his own glass. He leaned forward and looked at her intently, ready to start the tale.

"Well, I might not be a great storyteller, but here it goes:

This place, this town, used to be one big hill, almost mountain-like. Legend has it that it was a magical mountain where there were many strange occurrences. It was bad luck to come here. But there was one man who thought he could change that. Now don't get me wrong, he was a good guy, not greedy or anything, but headstrong. His name was Alek. The thing was, Alek had a dream, or a vision or something, and in that dream he was 'called' to the mountain, so of course he would go. He was convinced that nothing bad would happen to him, and he made sure everyone knew it. He ran for days without rest, carrying nothing but the clothes on his back.

When he finally got there, it was nothing like he expected. The mountain was rocky and barren. It wasn't steep, or tall, or anything worthy of praise in his opinion. The only vegetation was these ugly flowers that grew in the shadows of rocks. He stepped on them for they made him sick. He was utterly disappointed and immediately went to sleep, even though it was still daylight.

The next morning he sought to leave, but something was holding him back. So, he decided to stay one more night. But that night, his whole life changed. The whole course of history changed, as the legend likes to say. For the mountain wasn't the same at night. _Everything_ changed. Things came alive, spirits breathed. Alek couldn't believe his eyes. What was once a barren wasteland transformed into a fairytale. Alek watched as the flowers he once stepped on bloomed bright colors that glowed in the light of the full moon. He watched as vines full with strange fruit creeped up and engulfed the rocks, reaching up to the sky. He watched as curious creatures with many eyes, no eyes, eyes that stuck out of their heads, twenty legs, hooves, claws, wings, tails, arms that climbed, and arms that reached, crawled, ran, hopped, jumped, flew, and buzzed all around him.

So everything they ever said was true. The mountain was a magical place. But he couldn't believe how anything so beautiful could bring bad luck; so he stayed.

He began to notice that the creatures and plants all pulsed together to a familiar beat-like a heartbeat. They created a melody to some unseen sound. He stood there for a moment, waiting, listening, forgetting all else. Mystified, he decided to find the source of the music. The feeling grew stronger and stronger until he reached a type of meadow at the top of the mountain. This must have been the center, the source of the life and magic. What he saw there captivated him even more than before.

There were the same glowing flowers from before except larger. And even more spectacular, they were blooming into beautiful young women, their skin glowing the same colors as the flowers. And they were singing in harmony, not a normal kind of song but one that rang and echoed. The music filled his very being, and he fell madly in love with the woman in the center of it all: a woman with golden skin and flowing fiery red hair. He stayed there for a long time, unmoving, but then, the moment he stepped into the meadow, everything stopped. The creatures scurried back to their hiding places, the plants closed up and retreated back into the ground. The only living things left were he and a few of the women looking at him curiously, including the one with the golden complexion. It seemed even the stars darkened. It was then he realized that he had disturbed the whole order of the mountain, and the look in the eyes of those women made it clear that he would have to pay.

Alek didn't move, but let the gold woman come to him. Her hair flowed behind her as if they were under water. She was shorter than him. He noticed that her perplexed eyes changed color, from green, to blue, to grey, to brown, to orange, to purple, and back again. She held up her hand, as if to give him a high five. Confused, he did the same, and with her other hand she brought their two raised hands together. (He did so with their own hands, and Hinata giggled). He wasn't sure what she was doing, but she smiled, so he did as well. With that, the tension was lifted. The other women came to greet him as well. Slowly, the flowers opened, creatures creeped out of their hiding places once again. Gradually the music of life came back.

The women talked and sang and ate the strange fruit, all except the one with the red hair. She stayed in the center, on her red flower-throne, singing and smiling. She was so beautiful he almost wanted to cry. From the other women he learned that her name was Amina. Most of the other women didn't trust him as Amina did. They were wicked and deceitful, but Alek didn't know that.

From them he learned how the mountain got its bad reputation. He learned that intruders weren't normally looked upon kindly. In fact, it was a miracle that he was still in the same condition now as he was when he first arrived.

'What is that supposed to mean?' he asked.

The women laughed. 'Look around you,' they said, 'How do you think these creatures got here?'

Alek felt so sick he wanted to vomit. He looked down. A small animal with big pointed ears and a colorful tail looked up at him with large, frightened eyes. He finally saw the mountain for what it really was. The life here wasn't free, they were prisoners. The song they sang bound them, an ever-present reminder of how they were stuck, hopeless. His eyes moved up to the golden woman, Amina. Was she a prisoner as well? She didn't speak, she didn't laugh, she didn't do anything, just sing, the same song, over and over.

The other women saw him looking at her and laughed some more. 'Don't look at her like that. She runs this place. She lives on the souls of those who dare to cross her path.'

But it just didn't make sense to him. How could something so beautiful be so wicked? And if what the women said was true, why hadn't he been given the same fate? Why had he been spared? If only he could talk to her, get the answers he wanted.

But his answers came in a different form: a woman whose skin was a deep burgundy. She definitely wasn't as beautiful as Amina. She walked up to him, gave her name as Xara, and requested him to stay three nights, an order from Amina. Always open to a new opportunity, he obliged, and of course he couldn't deny the person he had fallen so much in love with in so little time. Xara noticed Alek's awe of Amina and told him of a secret to win her unfeeling heart. He must carve through the base of the mountain until he found a spring. One drop from that spring would save her from her wickedness, and set the creatures of the mountain free. Crazy right?

He set to work right away, pulling at the rocks with his bare hands, for that was all he had. He was tired and in pain but he kept going anyway. He wasn't alone though, he did this under the watchful eye of Xara. She told him stories of others who came to the mountain, looking for riches, or solving mysteries, and how they all ended up stuck here forever. It encouraged him to dig faster, to save those poor souls. And thus passed the first night.

Alek slept all the next day, for he hadn't slept the night before. When he awoke, the sun was still up and the mountain was barren, but this time he wasn't fooled. The sunset soon came, and when the last ray of light had disappeared he witnessed the transformation yet again. He immediately returned to the place where he was digging the previous night. He decided that instead of going forward he would work upward, so that the mountain wouldn't crumble and fall on him. That night another woman joined him, as Xara had the night before. She had dark purple skin and white hair. Her name was Laila. When Alek asked what had happened to Xara, Laila hesitated to reply that she was busy.

Alek worked hard as he had the night before while Laila fed him information on the ways of the mountain: how Amina acted as a corrupt queen, relishing in the discomfort and pain of her slaves, how life, though it seemed to thrive, was caught in a winding web of distress. He refused to believe it, and kept searching for the underground spring. And thus passed the second night.

Again he slept during the day and awoke at night, and again he went straight to work. His hands were calloused and raw, but he never even thought of backing down, it just wasn't his nature. Another woman came to him that night, one with midnight blue skin and long silver hair. Her beauty definitely rivaled that of Amina. This time he didn't bother to ask what happened to Laila. This woman, Iesha, told him the same things Xara and Laila had said before, but he didn't listen. He was done with hearing of misery and destruction. He didn't want to hear of Amina's evil aura. He was determined to change that. His hands were bleeding. He had worked so vigorously that nearly half of the mountain had eroded away, but still he had not found the stream. He was so close to the center, he could feel it, but he didn't ear any sound of water.

Iesha stood in the shadows, finally silent. The things she had said, he wanted to scream. It was deep into the night, and the moon was full. Alek stopped working. The moon was full the first night he arrived. And come to think of it, it was full the last night as well…

Time. It didn't exist. If he turned around and went back home, it would've been as if he never left. Or he could've left years ago. The creatures, the women, had to relive the same day, over and over again. It wasn't just that they couldn't leave, they didn't know how, and furthermore, they didn't want to. Where would they go? Their homes could've been deserted years ago. Who would remember them? He could be trapped here as well. Now he had to find that magical stream, the one that would fix everything. He was so close. He started working again.

Then Iesha said something he would never forget. Now this is considered the foundation on which this town is built, so listen up. She said, 'You know magic isn't always good, it doesn't always bring about happy endings. Sometimes you have to rely on something more than that.'

But what on earth could be more powerful than magic the unexplainable, the force that holds everything together? Did magic not bring about love, immortality? Was not magic the cure to everything? It was how dreams came true, was it not?

But all thoughts flew out of his head for he felt something in the rock, a damp coolness. He dug farther…and there it was! The stream, only a trickle but it soon became larger, then larger, spraying him with sweet clear water. He wondered what happened to Iesha for she hadn't said a word, but it didn't matter. The water was so refreshing after his long hours of labor. He turned to see where Iesha had gone but then stopped. There she was, but she was lying on the ground, unmoving. Alek ran over to find that she was barely breathing. He meant to pick her up but in a raspy voice she told him not to touch her. He picked her up anyway and carried her out of the cave, for the water was coming fast then and would soon overflow. He looked back at the mountain and was horrified at what he saw. There _was_ no mountain. It had become only a large hill of rocks. He felt the weight lift from his arms to see that Iesha had disappeared into dust. What had he done?

He stumbled up the mountain-er the rocks-in darkness, trying to find Amina, but when he reached the top he was blinded by darkness. Instead he heard a voice, so pure it had to be Amina's. She cried out for him to open his eyes, but he couldn't. He couldn't do _anything_. He wanted, he had to know what was happening, but he couldn't speak. It didn't matter because Amina explained everything to him. She explained how she was part of the mountain; the river was her tears, the rocks like her flesh. He realized that in carving away the mountain he was really destroying her. How could he have been so stupid? She continued to say that she was trapped there by a wish to stay on the mountain forever, where she would be loved, and in her foolishness, trapped her sisters there as well. She had no choice; anyone who set foot on the mountain was condemned to idolize her. Her sisters must have grown tired of the same old game and in him found a way to destroy the spell and set them free. They didn't know, or didn't want to acknowledge that they would also be destroying their home, themselves. They died because they had lied. She wasn't all-powerful or corrupt, and she didn't relish other's pain. Why did he think she cried all the time? Enough to form a river…

Alek couldn't see her, but he could feel her. How couldn't he love her, someone so pure, so innocent? She wasn't perfect but he finally had to admit, neither was he. But he could feel himself slipping, falling. He was running out of time, or rather, into time. He mustered enough energy to ask one last thing. 'Why me? Why let me live only to destroy?'

She answered, 'Because you could. You have set us free, using your own two hands.' Then she repeated what Iesha had said earlier. 'You can find your own happy ending, Alek.'

And then he fell…

… and was welcomed by cool water. He felt strangely calm, reassured. It didn't matter to him that he couldn't have Amina right then, he had all eternity. The creatures, spell lifted, were brought back to their former state. They couldn't go back home for they had already forgotten where their homes were, so they decided to make their own home. Those people became the first residents of this town. Year after year they held a festival to honor the hero who set them free. They passed the tradition on to their children, and their children's children, and so on. They called the celebration Maiden Nights because each night he was with a different woman, but never with the one he loved.

To this day no one has ever found the source of the stream. It is said that Amina's spirit resides at the top of the mountain, still waiting for Alek. And that's how it stays; He, forever immortalized under the river fed by her tears."

Hinata was silent, drinking it in. She didn't get it. The ending wasn't…_happy_. Alek and Amina never got together. _To this day_ they yet live, so close yet so far, never…together. To Hinata that seemed more like…like…_torture_. Never being able to be with the one you love…when they are right in front of you…

"But how…how is this a happy ending?" she asked.

He smiled. "I thought you would ask." He paused. "It isn't so much that they had to be together at that moment. More that…they could be together, they would be, that they could make it happen. Its the fact that you can go out…and find love…that it's not…it's not set in stone. You don't have to rely on something bigger than yourself…does that make sense?"

Hinata thought about that. "I think…" then she stopped. She didn't know what she thought.

He stood up, set down his wineglass and walked over to the balcony. She did the same. He pointed down to the stream, where people were gathering by the waters edge to put small red lanterns on the water. They floated along, making dozens of tiny light reflections on the water.

"You see those lanterns?" She nodded. "They're putting them there to help light the way for Alek, so that someday he might rise up and find Amina. The key word being someday. It doesn't have to be now, or tomorrow, or in ten years, just…someday."

They stood there, side by side, watching the floating lanterns, entranced as they were when they were watching the fountain.

After some silence he said, "You're not from around here. You're from the big city aren't you? Rich…an heiress?" He smiled.

She nodded, her eyes wide. "How did you know?"

He looked at her, a glazed look in his eyes. "You've just got that spoiled city look to you."

She looked back, avoiding his _(clear, beautiful, gorgeous)_ eyes yet again. "Are you saying I'm arrogant?"

He shook his head. "No, maybe spoiled isn't the right word. More like…you're looking out at the world, but you're not seeing it."

"That…that doesn't make sense."

He switched his gaze to the river, then back at her. "You're looking for something, but you don't know what it is. You want to believe in something but you don't know if there's something to believe in. You've grown up in luxury, given everything you wanted but nothing you need, for so long, that you've forgotten what it is to take something so simple and just be…happy…simply happy."

_How did he know? Those eyes, surely, could look into her very soul…_

His voice lowered to a whisper. "You look everywhere but my eyes, what's wrong?"

_He could read her mind_

Hinata looked down at the white marble. "I…" She didn't finish. Then again, what was she going to say? I can't _I need you_ I'm afraid_ I love you_…

_Who are you?_

"What are you searching for?"

When had they gotten so close? She forgot herself. She looked up and…finally…into those clear blue eyes.

_She was lost-_

That millisecond was all it took

_Slipping-_

One millisecond for their lips to meet

_Don't_

One millisecond for their eyes to close

_Let_

One millisecond for her to lose him, _again_

_Go_

Her whole world went black

…_please_

and frankly, she didn't care.

..

_Look in front of you. Shape the world with your eyes._

_Now go and get it._

..

-

..

Ta-da! Done! Was the masked stranger Naruto? We shall see…


End file.
